What is the role of the Network's Legal Defense Fund?

The purpose of the Network’s Legal Defense Fund is to provide legal defense support to Network members after a self-defense incident. This support is supplied at several points along the timeline.

First, the Network will work with your chosen attorney to make sure you have immediate legal representation by forwarding an agreed upon fee deposit to the member’s attorney. This money is intended to ensure a member has legal representation immediately after an incident, and that the member's attorney can pull out all the stops in protecting the member's rights, including being with the member during contact with law enforcement, hiring a private investigator to tie down the facts of what really happened, keeping the news media away from the member and his or her family, and other services as may be needed. This benefit is subject to a review of the facts of the case as known at the time and a determination it was a legitimate act of self defense.

In addition, if the member is charged with a crime or sued in civil court, the Network provides additional funding for a vigorous defense of the member's justifiable self-defense actions. Additional defense funding is available for appeals where there are appealable issues, and retrials, as well.