Legal Defense Fund
The National Trust Legal Defense Fund is the legal advocacy arm of the organization. Through the LDF, the Trust carries out litigation and legal advocacy to ensure the effectiveness of preservation laws at the federal, state, and local levels. The staff lawyers of the Legal Defense Fund respond on many fronts to help communities around the country protect their heritage, their homes and businesses, their neighborhoods, and their history.
Our first goal is to avoid the need to go to court at all, by using advocacy to encourage better government decisions that protect historic sites, neighborhoods, and landscapes. But when it becomes necessary, the Legal Defense Fund is prepared to litigate to protect the Nation’s historic resources.
Throughout the year, the Legal Defense Fund summarizes its efforts in the LDF Review. Though the cases on which it reports represent only a fraction of the controversies we work to resolve every year, the Review illustrates the wide variety of legal issues and historic resources involved in protecting our nation’s communities. The LDF Review for September 2005 is now available.