http://www.naacpldf.org

Founded in 1940 under the leadership or the late Thurgood Marshall, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation's oldest organization fighting for equal rights. It is based in New York and maintains offices in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. LDF litigates civil rights issues, provides policymakers and Members of Congress with information and advice on civil rights legislation, prods federal agencies to enforce civil rights laws, monitors key Presidential appointments and educates the pubic on civil rights. LDF's Western Regional Office has been involved in high-profile battles over police brutality and anti-black bias in Los Angeles.

Elaine R. Jones
President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) Ms. Jones took the helm of LDF in 1993. She brought with her two decades of experience as a litigator and civil rights activist. An honors graduate of Howard University, Ms. Jones joined the Peace Corps and became one of the first African Americans to serve in Turkey. She blazed trails becoming one of the first African American women to defend death row inmates and argued capital cases throughout the South. She was named special assistant to U.S. Secretary of Transportation, William T. Coleman. Ms. Jones is a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals; U. S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Columbia; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits; and the Supreme Court of the United States.