Remarks of Leroy Clark at National Conference of Negro Elected Officials, Univ. of Chicago

    Remarks of Leroy Clark, first assistant counsel, 
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc,(LDF), 
at National Conference cf Negro Elected Officials, 
Center for Continuing Education, University of 
Chicago, Saturday, September 30, 1967, 11:00 a.m. 

We would like to take the occasion of this meeting of the 

National Conference of Negro Elected Officials to advise you of the 

establishment of a new legislative drafting service--something that 

has never been done before--for legislators across the country. 

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., which we 

refer to as the LDF, will produce model proposals and legal research 

on which legislators with civil rights and poverty law concerns can 

rely. 

Many of the legislators who are here today do not have the time 

or research staff, either lawyers or other experts, to produce all of 

the legislation sorely needed by their constituents, white and Negro, 

in the areas of civil rights and poverty. 

Let me take a moment to clearly define our identification. As 

I said earlier, we are the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 

Inc. which, as many of you know, is an independent organization from 

the NAACP, We share similar names because we were established by the 

NAACP in 1939, and since that time, under the leadership of Thurgood 

Marshall, who was succeeded by Jack Greenberg, we have grown to be- 

come the legal arm of the entire civil rights movement. Mr, Greenberg 

now heads a staff of 25 full-time attorneys and 250 cooperating attor- 

neys who are currently involved in 430 groups of civil rights and 

poverty cases, Many of you are among the lawyers who cooperate with 

us. 

Our attorneys represent chapters of the NAACP and CORE, 

Dr. Martin Luther King and affiliates of the Southern Christian 

Leadership Conference, members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating 

Committee, and many independent individuals and groups who have bona 

fide civil rights and poverty claims. 

In view of the Legal Defense Fund's deep commitment to the 

advancement of civil rights through law and to the legal protection 

of the indigent, we believe that a material contribution to both these 

goals can be made by offering competent technical legal advice and 

services to legislators and legislative bodies in connection with the 

preparation of legislation, 

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cy 

It is directly pertinent to the charitable function of the LDF to 
see to it that proposed legislation in support of civil rights and the 
relief of the poor should be proficiently and ably prepared, The LDF 
will not, of course, become in any way involved in Propaganda for or 
otherwise promoting the enactment of legislation, 

The service will be akin to various other non-profit legislative 
drafting services, such as that which has been offered by Columbia 
University and a number of bar associations for many years, both to 
federal and state legislators and government, 

We have been stimulated to undertake this service because there 
are more Negro legislators in office than at any time since the 
Reconstruction period, and because Negro legislators generally have 
growing concern with the problems that the service will deal with, 
But, as I said, this service will be available to all, 

Such an undertaking will be quite expensive to be done properly, 
and we are now exploring funding sources. We will secure a list of 
all persons present at this meeting and inform you in the future of 
the date the service will be available, 

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