NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund

The NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund, (known as Legal Momentum since 2004), was one of the first legal organizations in the United States devoted solely to working for gender equality. In March 1970, members of the National Organization for Women's Legal Committee incorporated the NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund (NOW LDEF) as a separate 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to furthering women's rights through litigation, and to raising funds to support legal and educational projects relating to women. In 1971, NOW LDEF was granted tax-exempt status.

NOW LDEF was run by a small board of directors, and its "membership" was comprised of this board, as well as all members of the NOW board. The first board meeting was held on July 14, 1970. The first national office was established in New York City in 1973. NOW LDEF hired a small administrative staff, and in 1974 added an executive director. Actual legal work was initially done pro bono by board members or else by cooperating attorneys. Most early legal work consisted of filing amicus briefs or distributing funds to lawsuits already underway (many of them initiated by NOW or NOW chapters). Initial case work focused on employment discrimination, academic discrimination, and family law. In 1977 NOW LDEF raised funds to hire a legal director, and began to have a paid litigation staff. While the organization received hundreds of letters from individual women asking for legal assistance, the legal department tried to focus on precedent-setting suits that would affect large numbers of women. Attorneys also compiled legal guides on topics concerning women, and drafted model legislation on topics such as child custody and domestic violence.

In the early 1970s, NOW LDEF raised funds to distribute to feminist research or policy projects that applied for assistance. The organization soon began to found and manage its own projects, the largest of which were the Project on Equal Education Rights (PEER, 1974-1992), and the National Judicial Education Project (NJEP, 1980-ongoing).

The 1976 Tax Reform Act allowed 501(c)(3) organizations to lobby the federal government. NOW LDEF began its direct attempts to influence national public policy with a campaign (in conjunction with NOW and other feminist organizations) to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). In the early 1990s NOW LDEF began lobbying in Washington, D.C., for the Violence Against Women Act (passed in 1994), and also worked to pass effective legislation on topics ranging from sexual harassment to welfare.

In 2004 NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund changed its name to Legal Momentum. For a more detailed history, including a timeline of the organization and a database of legal cases, see the Legal Momentum website, http://www.legalmomentum.org .

From the guide to the Records of the NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund, 1968-2008, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)