In the United States, a legal defense fund (or LDF) is an account set up to pay for legal expenses, which can include attorneys' fees, court filings, litigation costs, legal advice, or other legal fees. The fund can be public or private and is set up for individuals, organizations, or for a particular purpose. These funds are often used by government public officials, civil rights organizations, and public interest organizations. Legal defense funds often have large membership counts where the members contribute to the fund. The fund sometimes is or operates like a

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

, where teams of attorneys provide legal services through litigation. Contrary to the name, attorneys working for legal defense funds both file and defend

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

. Unlike legal financing from legal financing companies, legal defense funds provide a separate account for litigation rather than a one-time cash advancement, though both are used for purposes of financing litigation and legal costs.

History

The exact origins of legal defense funds are unclear. In the mid-nineteenth-century United States, a number of minority groups pioneered the practice of amassing funds to cover legal costs associated with their battles for civil rights and civil liberties.

Government

A government legal defense fund is an account set up to pay for the legal expenses encountered by a person holding government office, or by other public officials. While public figures are undergoing legal proceedings, they may incur large legal fees and face conflict of interest laws that restrict how they may pay for such expenses. A legal defense fund allows third parties to donate monies, with an option for anonymity, to pay for such legal costs. Many American public figures have employed legal defense funds, including

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

and Sarah Palin. On November 15, 2010, Congressman Charlie Rangel's credibility was questioned when he claimed that until very recently he was unaware that the establishment of a legal defense fund was an option he could use to pay for his defense against

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

charges These funds are governed by Congressional ethics rules and guidelines from the Office of Governmental Ethics (OGE), which impose various requirements to limit contributions to the fund.

Public interest

Public interest legal defense funds are

non-profit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

that use legal services to advance

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, the ...

, and other public interests. They file lawsuits, provide free legal assistance to clients, push for legislative reform, and provide public education through seminars, workshops, and other outreach efforts. Public interest legal defense funds include the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund (formerly known as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund), the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) is an American non-profit organization formed in 1986 to protect the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers covering legal ...

, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Life Legal Defense Fund, and the National Association of Social Workers Legal Defense Fund and many others.

Civil rights

Civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

legal defense funds are

that use legal services to advance civil rights. They often provide legal assistance, advocacy, litigation support, and public education to increase gender and racial equality. Common issues include equality in the workplace, equality in education, immigration rights,

voting rights Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

, and violence prevention.http://aaldef.org/programs/; http://www.legalmomentum.org/about/ Civil rights legal defense funds include the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Women's Equity Action League Educational and Legal Defense Fund, and the National Organization for Women Legal Defense and Education Fund ( Legal Momentum), the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and many others.

References

Bibliography

* Volk, Kyle G. (2014).
Moral Minorities and the Making of American Democracy
'. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN, 019937192X. Legal costs