introduction

All you have to do is pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV, or view one of the major news sites on the internet to realize that there is still an enormous array of ills plaguing the world and our community. At Fredrikson & Byron, we also believe that each of us can work to make small changes that will have a very real and positive effect on the individuals and organizations we serve. During Fredrikson & Byron’s fiscal year ending May 31, 2008, our lawyers, paralegals, and summer associates donated approximately 11,900 hours of free legal services to nearly 400 individuals and organizations who could not otherwise afford to pay for such services. Whether it was assisting a single mom with the return of a much-needed security deposit, fighting for asylum for a refugee from a war-torn country, traveling to Ghana to take the statements of refugees to be used in a report to the UN, or assisting nonprofits that serve the diverse needs of our community, our lawyers, paralegals, interns, and staff contributed their time, efforts, and talents to help make our community a better place to live. It has been our privilege to assist the many gracious clients who have come to us for assistance. We hope we have enriched their lives as much as they have enriched ours.

Our commitment to the community goes beyond providing pro bono legal services to those in need. Our firm’s history includes many leaders in a wide range of community organizations, from social services to arts and cultural. For example, Fredrikson & Byron employees donate time to help senior citizens, raise money for those with life-threatening illnesses, and serve as formal mentors and informal role models to individuals struggling to break the poverty cycle.

It remains our hope and our intent that through our participation and volunteer efforts, we will continue to strengthen the community in which we live and that we will add a small paragraph to the history of our generation. The following report describes some of the highlights of our pro bono and community service efforts during the past year. As proud as we are of these accomplishments, we look forward to the challenge of continuing to “work to change a small portion of events” of history.

“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one person can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills, misery, ignorance, and violence. Few will have the greatness to bend history, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. And in the total of all those acts will be written the history of a generation.”

Robert Francis Kennedy