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Legal Defense Fund
What
is NASW's "LDF"?
 NASW Legal Defense Fund (LDF)
- Established by NASW in 1972
- Provides financial legal assistance and support for legal cases
and issues of concern to NASW members and the social work profession
- LDF also supports educational projects and programs to improve
the legal status and knowledge of the social work profession
To be eligible
for financial assistance from LDF, a social worker must:
- be a member
in good standing of NASW (Join NASW),
- have a case
that falls within the selection criteria established by the
LDF Board of Trustees (Guidelines
for Grants), and
- submit a completed
application (Members' Application
for Assistance).
How
does the LDF benefit NASW members and the social work profession?
As a part of its mission, LDF has supported precedent setting
lawsuits and makes available legal resources of interest to NASW
members
and social workers generally. Some notable items produced with
LDF support include:
- A series of
12 law notes on legal
topics relevant to social workers.
- A friend of
the court brief that was noted in the Supreme Court's opinion
in the 1996 landmark case, Jaffee
v. Redmond, which established a federal psychotherapist-patient
privilege for social workers and their clients.
- A friend of
the court brief that helped legal counsel establish the right
for licensed clinical social workers practicing in Maryland
to testify as expert witnesses (see Legal
Issue of the Month).
- Workshops
and educational materials presented to national and state social
work conferences and NASW chapters.
The work of LDF
is financed principally by contributions from NASW members through
the check-off contained on member dues renewal forms. Consideration
of available financial resources is one of the criteria established
by the LDF Board as a guideline for decision making on applications
for financial assistance.
NASW LDF staff is not able to respond to requests for specific
legal advice. Requests for funding assistance for legal issues
should be submitted through the grant application process.
NOTICE
The information
contained in this Web site is provided as a service to members
and the social work community for educational and information
purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We provide
timely information, but we make no claims, promises or guarantees
about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information
contained in or linked to this Web site and its associated sites.
Transmission of the information is not intended to create, and
receipt does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship between
NASW, LDF, or the author(s) and you. NASW members and online
readers should not act based on the information provided in the
LDF Web site. Laws and court interpretations change frequently.
Legal advice must be tailored to the specific facts and circumstances
of a particular case. Nothing reported herein should be
used as a substitute for the advice of competent counsel.
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