Contact: Kelly Griffith, Marketing Manager
Phone:
(612) 492-7514
Email: kgriffith@fredlaw.com
Remarks by award presenter Kathy McLeroy at
2007 ABA National Public Service Award Presentation to Law Firm
March 16, 2007
Washington, DC
As Peter indicated, a superb group of law firms were nominated for the National Public Service Award this year. It is my honor to present this year’s National Public Service Award to Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. of Minneapolis.
Fredrikson & Byron is not an international behemoth with a staff of attorneys who devote their full time efforts to pro bono work. They are, instead, a 206-attorney law firm who has, through their collective pro bono work, left an indelible mark on their community.
The National Public Service Award recognizes significant business law pro bono efforts and accomplishment. For more than 30 years, Fredrikson & Byron has demonstrated both.
Not only have they provided direct service to pro bono clients, they have been intimately involved in a community effort to create a framework of support for community development in economically depressed neighborhoods.
In 1992, Fredrikson & Byron assisted in the creation of Neighborhood Development Center, (“NDC”), a community-based nonprofit that works in inner city neighborhoods to help emerging entrepreneurs develop successful businesses to meet community needs.
Fredrikson & Byron attorneys -
- formed the entity - the NDC
- obtained NDC’s tax exemption, and
- assisted in setting up the Neighborhood Business Loan Fund (a micro business lender)
Fredrikson & Byron attorneys provided pro bono legal services to graduates of the NDC educational program.
- assisted 350 NDC clients with entity formation, as well as business immigration and intellectual property advice
- provided over 1000 hours to nearly 70 clients in the past year
Fredrikson & Byron also partnered with the NDC on a number of large transactional pro bono projects, including the conversion of an abandoned commercial corridor into a business incubator for minority owned start up businesses.
Fredrikson & Byron also
- conducts monthly seminars on legal issues important to small business owners
- conducts a walk-in business law clinic for these business owners
- developed specialized financing documents for Muslim entrepreneurs that meet the special, requirements of the Muslin religion (this program has been modeled by other programs)
In their nomination of Fredrikson & Byron, the NDC said:
“Today, the Lake Street corridor is a vital, growing, and more-prosperous area due, in part, to the assistance of Fredrikson & Byron lawyers.”
This work closely resembles the work of Fredrikson & Byron lawyer, John Stout, who, in 1971, was instrumental in the formation of the Metropolitan Economic Development Association -- a program designed to minority entrepreneurs the intricacies of running a business. Since 1971, Fredrikson & Byron has provided legal services to hundreds of MEDA’s clients as well as tens of thousands of dollars in financial and in-kind support to MEDA itself.
Since 1998 --
- transactional pro bono at Fredrikson & Byron has grown from 20% of its pro bono effort to nearly 50% of the firm’s total pro bono effort
- nearly every transactional business lawyer at the firm has participated in pro bono work during the last few years.
Fredrikson & Byron is the law firm of pro bono giants John Stout (1997 NPSA Recipient) and Jim Baillie and, for all of these reasons, today we present the 2007 National Public Service to Fredrikson & Byron.
Accepting on behalf of Fredrikson & Byron is John Satorius, its Chairman.