International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP is pleased to announce that Eric Ruzicka, a partner in the Firm’s Construction and Design practice group, will receive The National Law Journal’s Twin Cities Counsel to Counsel Award on June 24, 2015, at the Twin Cities Legal Department of the Year Awards event. The award recognizes lawyers who partner with in-house legal teams to close the big deals, meet regulatory demands, provide critical, free legal services to their communities and diversify their workforces.
Mr. Ruzicka serves as the Dorsey’s pro bono partner, overseeing the Firm’s extensive pro bono efforts. He became the Pro Bono partner last year after colleague Perry Wilson’s retirement and has been keeping the program and joint pro bono projects thriving with clients like U.S. Bancorp.
Lawyers from Dorsey and U.S. Bancorp pair up to work at the Hennepin County Housing Court clinic run by the Volunteer Lawyers' Network and other nonprofit and court entities to help clinic organizers and participants meet their goal of providing a pro bono lawyer to every housing litigant who needs one. Dorsey also partners with U.S. Bancorp on pro bono work at the Brian Coyle Legal Clinic, which serves Minneapolis residents from Eastern Africa. Dorsey has similar joint pro bono service arrangements with clients UnitedHealth Group, Xcel Energy and others.
In 2014, Dorsey lawyers devoted more than 37,309 hours in total to pro bono projects.
“We are pleased that Eric is being recognized for his and Dorsey’s commitment to serve the unmet legal needs of disadvantaged individuals and organizations who cannot afford to pay for legal services,” noted Dorsey Managing Partner Ken Cutler. “Community is a Dorsey core value, and pro bono work is one of the most important ways we give back to the community.”
The Twin Cities Legal Department of the Year Awards event will be held on Wednesday, June 24, 2015, at The Marquette Hotel in Minneapolis. The event will celebrate honorees whose impact stretches far beyond the boundaries of their individual positions. These honorees include the general counsel and law departments of Best Buy, Xcel Energy Inc., Tennant Co., Polaris Industries Inc., Supervalu Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Ecolab Inc.