Hallowell, ME – Attorney Faye Luppi has been honored with the Peter J. DeTroy III Award by the Campaign for Justice for her work to reduce domestic violence. Attorney Luppi has led the Violence Intervention Partnership of Cumberland County Government for 20 years.
The Campaign for Justice, begun in 2004, raises over $600,000 each year to help Mainers who cannot afford a lawyer for civil legal needs such as eviction, family law, loss of benefits and immigration. The Campaign benefits six providers of civil legal aid: Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Legal Services for the Elderly, Maine Equal Justice, Pine Tree Legal Assistance and Volunteer Lawyers Project.
The Hon. Leigh I. Saufley, Dean of the University of Maine School of Law, presented the award to Attorney Luppi with these words, “Faye’s persistent, steadfast, and data-based approach to addressing intimate violence has been an incredible resource for Maine, both for the prosecutorial and defense bar, and for jurists and many others in the field. Her creativity in finding ways for people to come together to solve problems, and her much admired skill in obtaining grants to fund desperately needed services, are legendary.”
Saufley continued, “All of Faye’s work has led to greatly improved communication between and among those groups and agencies with responsibility for responding to domestic violence. Thanks to her work, victims of domestic violence in Maine can reach out to a system that will provide immediate help, transition resources, and very careful life-saving advice.”
“It is such an honor to receive this award created in memory of Peter DeTroy, a man of great and selfless spirit whose legacy lives on through this award and in his many contributions to justice in Maine,” Luppi said. “I would like to thank the Campaign for Justice for recognizing the work that I do behind the scenes, and especially to thank the leadership at Cumberland County Government for supporting me and the Violence Intervention Partnership for the past twenty years.”
Luppi added, “The services provided by our legal aid agencies in Maine can significantly reduce the likelihood that an individual survivor of domestic violence will continue to be abused. We should be expanding services to provide what clients need to become self-sufficient because ‘long-term, realistic alternatives to their relationships’ are more likely to lower the overall incidence of domestic violence, according to a 2017 economic study. Self-sufficiency and alternatives are only possible with the kind of safety net and lifelines enabled by the services of Maine Equal Justice and all of the other agencies supported by the Campaign for Justice.”
The Campaign for Justice created the award in 2017 in honor of Peter J. DeTroy III, Esq., who had died suddenly the previous year. This award is given to an individual who has worked to remove barriers for people who are vulnerable, to advance justice in Maine, and to further the good of the community, especially an individual whose work has been unheralded. A practicing lawyer in Maine beginning in 1972 and a founding partner of the firm Norman, Hanson & DeTroy, Peter served on a number of committees devoted to ensuring that the practice of law was inclusive, without discrimination, and without unnecessary barriers to young lawyers eager to learn.