NAPD Welcomes Alice Fontier as Deputy Director

NAPD is pleased to welcome Alice Fontier as its Deputy Director, Operations and Administration. As Deputy Director, she will provide strategic and administrative support to the Executive Director on the management of daily operations of NAPD.

Alice Fontier has been a practicing criminal defense attorney for over twenty years. She has been a Project Managing Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of New York; Managing Director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem; and the Managing Director of the Criminal Defense Practice at the Bronx Defenders. She has previously worked at the Federal Defenders of San Diego, and as a private attorney in federal and state courts in New York. Alice has been President of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Parliamentarian of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She regularly teaches trial skills for these associations and at Columbia Law, as well as teaching the Police Misconduct Externship at NYU Law. She graduated from NYU Law.

Lori James-Townes, NAPD Executive Director, says, “NAPD is working in more places and in more ways than ever to support public defenders. All of that relies on effective operations. I couldn’t be more excited to have Alice at my side, adding her public defender leadership and organizational management expertise to our vision of transforming advocacy and reclaiming justice.”

Tina Luongo, Chief Attorney of the Criminal Defense Practice at the Legal Aid Society, says, “This is such great news for NAPD and the public defender community across the nation. Alice is a defender at heart and her skills in litigation, training, policy, and advocacy are deeply centered on placing clients first and foremost. I have watched her litigate in Court, push for reform on the steps and halls of government and at The Legal Aid Society, hire and train eager new staff members on what it takes to do what we. Congratulations Alice! Your NYC friends are proud of you and looking forward to continuing to work with you in this new role.”

Alice is based in New York City. She begins her work at NAPD on November 4.