Legal Defense Fund
The National Trust Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the legal advocacy arm of the organization. Through the LDF, the National Trust for Historic Preservation 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 LDF Updates. Though the cases on which it reports represent only a fraction of the controversies we work to resolve every year, the Updates illustrate the wide variety of legal issues and historic resources involved in protecting our nation’s communities.
The work of the Legal Defense Fund is supported by the National Trust’s membership dues, general donations, and foundation grants—and our staff efforts are leveraged with generous pro bono assistance from dedicated lawyers in the private bar. This work would simply not be possible, however, without contributions from individual supporters. To make a contribution, please download and return our donation form.
