NACDL Offers Grants To Criminal Defense Lawyers and Organizations

NACDL Offers Grants To Criminal Defense Lawyers and Organizations

NACDL Executive Director Ralph Grunewald has asked that we give this information widest dissemination possible.

NACDL's Katrina Disaster Relief Fund.

Lawyers from the three states are now able to submit applications online for individual Grants to assist them in rebuilding their practices by visiting www.nacdl.org/relief . Criminal justice organizations in the Gulf states are also encouraged to apply for grants to help rebuild their institutions.

NACDL established the Katrina Disaster Relief Fund within a day following the disaster. By mid-September, NACDL had received gifts and pledges exceeding $80,000. This includes the Foundation for Criminal Justice (NACDL's charitable supporting organization) whose Trustees have established a challenge grant of up to $50,000 to match individual member contributions dollar-for-dollar. The Foundation is administering the Katrina Disaster Relief Fund, and grants are now being made to needy defense lawyers and criminal justice institutions to help them rebuild their practices and organizations; most have few options, and NACDL is there to ensure they will not stand alone.

Included in the $80,000 total raised to-date, is $5,000 in "seed money" donated by the NACDL, $4,500 raised at a September fundraising event by NACDL members in Seattle, and a $1,000 contribution from the Tarrant County (TX) Criminal Defense Lawyer Association. The Texas Lawyers Educational Institute of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association has pledged $5,000, the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has pledged an additional $5,000, as well as the Miami Chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers which has pledged $1,000. NACDL is encouraging all its Affiliates to contribute in whatever way they can.

Likewise, NACDL is encouraging members of our Affiliates to make tax-deductible contributions to the Katrina Disaster Relief Fund. Either fill-in the attached Giving Form or give a gift online at www.nacdl.org/foundation .Please donate today.

Immediately after the hurricane, NACDL also established the Katrina Disaster Bulletin Board. This is the place where NACDL members can offer assistance, where those in need can learn about the assistance being offered, and where we can match-up those in need with those who are able to assist. The Bulletin Board appears on our Web site at www.nacdl.org/relief .

Offers of assistance on the new Bulletin Board have already included

(1) providing housing and shelter for any members and their families in need;

(2) assisting affected members with temporary office space;
(3) providing short-term employment for affected lawyers;
(4) providing short-term case oversight; and
(5) donating office equipment and supplies, telephones and cellphones, calling cards, etc. once conditions improve and these supplies can be delivered to them.

Further, NACDL hired Keith Nordyke, a criminal defense lawyer in Baton Rouge, to serve as our Katrina Disaster Relief Liaison. Keith is coordinating efforts on-the-ground to assist lawyers in the affected areas to rebuild their practices and to provide resources and information to them. He interacts with federal, state, and local agencies in the three affected states, developing databases of prisoners and their lawyers in order to bring a semblance of order to the chaos brought on by Katrina.

NACDL looks forward to working in partnership with our Affiliates to ensure that every defense lawyer from the affected areas knows he or she does not stand alone during these difficult days of rebuilding their lives and practices.

www.nacdl.org/relief