News & Updates

Greene Espel congratulates attorneys Sybil Dunlop, Jenny Gassman-Pines, Aaron Knoll, Karl Procaccini, Kate Swenson, and Kevin Zhao on being named North Star Lawyers by the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA). MSBA awards North Star Lawyer designations to members who have provided at least 50 hours of pro bono in a given year.

In 2016, the attorneys mentioned above represented pro bono clients and were proud to:

• Reunite client with her family after a five-year separation;
• Obtain criminal expungement to assist a professional woman advance her career;
• Represent pro se a litigant in federal court and before OSHA as part of the Federal Bar Association’s Pro Se Project; and
• Help clients apply for asylum and gain the right to work while their applications were pending.

Greene Espel is committed to a wide array of pro bono initiatives and shares its time and talents to serve some of our community’s most vulnerable populations. Our attorneys, including those named above, have established strong relationships with many legal organizations including The Advocates for Human Rights, Children’s Law Center, Neighborhood Justice Center, The Pro Se Project, and the Volunteer Lawyers Network. The firm’s commitment to serving our community also includes individual volunteer opportunities and firm-sponsored projects. This past year, we organized a shoe drive and collected over 800 pounds of shoes to benefit Good in the Hood, made over 200 sandwiches for Simpson Housing Services, and packed food for Feed My Starving Children. 

In addition to applauding our attorneys for their efforts, the firm also thanks the MSBA for encouraging pro bono. MSBA reports that Minnesota lawyers provided over 113,000 total hours of free legal services valued over $22,600,000. Greene Espel is proud of the devotion of the broader Minnesota community to change lives and transform communities through pro bono legal work and other community outreach programs.