The organization has worked to build coalitions of legal organizations in order to provide a forum for important legal issues. Groups involved have included the
American Bar Association,
American Civil Liberties Union, the
Constitution Project, the
Federalist Society,
The Heritage Foundation, and the
Washington Legal Foundation. NACDL often submits
amicus curiae, or friend of the court, briefs in support of litigants at both the federal and state level in those cases that present issues of importance to criminal defendants, criminal defense lawyers, and/or the criminal justice system as a whole. In 2012, NACDL launched The Criminal Docket
podcast. It features a rundown of criminal justice news stories and interviews with "leaders in the legal practice, public policy, journalism, academia, and others whose lives intersect with the criminal justice system." ==Publications and reports==