Community

At Sands Anderson, we believe in engaging with and helping to lift the communities where we live and work. From our perspective, providing complete legal guidance is just one of many ways to give back to the communities that support our success.

Throughout our history, we’ve maintained a strong history of engaging with a variety of civic, charitable, and professional organizations. We do so through contributions and active involvement as members, volunteers, and leaders. Whether that means volunteering at a local nonprofit, sponsoring fundraising events, or more, we genuinely enjoy this important work — and encourage all employees to participate in these efforts.

Giving Focus: Literacy

Across our firm, we have committed our community efforts to focus on a topic near to our hearts: literacy.

“Working in the legal industry, we’re an educated profession. And the key to learning is knowing how to read. As we looked within our communities and how we can provide meaningful value, we saw a natural tie-in to focusing on literacy.”

Lee Byrd, Literacy Committee Chair & Past President of Sands Anderson

Reading is about more than texting a friend or enjoying a novel — literacy levels are critical to the fundamental health of our communities. When people are illiterate, they’re unable to equip themselves with essential information that can enrich and improve their own lives.

Focusing on literacy enables us to apply our skills and passion to help those in our communities that are lacking literacy opportunity, abilities or access. Whether organizing book drives for schoolrooms, donating literacy materials to nonprofits, or other outreach, we’re committed to helping our communities thrive through the power of literacy.

Literacy Committee

The Sands Anderson Literacy Committee strategically guides our firm’s community efforts and is comprised of representatives from each of our offices, including attorneys, professional assistants, paralegals, and administrative staff. These committee members come from across the firm to dedicate their time and passion to foster our community outreach and support the literacy initiative.

  • Lee Byrd, Committee Chair, Shareholder – Richmond
  • Mike Bedsaul, Shareholder – Christiansburg
  • Janet Broadway, Human Resources Director – Richmond
  • Hall Carter, Counsel – Richmond
  • Rachel Lufkin, Director of Marketing & Business Development – Richmond
  • Anne Mickey, Counsel – Richmond
  • Elizabeth Muldowney, Counsel – Richmond
  • Brian Muse, Shareholder – Williamsburg
  • Dawn Stanley, Paralegal – Fredericksburg
  • Catherine Steele, Billing Coordinator – Richmond

Community Initiatives

We also have coordinated other outreach initiatives that help push our communities forward:

Firms in Service

This Richmond-region unofficial association brings together 13 law firms (including two corporate legal departments). The goal is to provide legal support to people who need lawyers but can’t afford them. We’re proud to be a founding member.

Pro Bono Promise

We have committed to the Greater Richmond Bar Foundation’s Pro Bono Promise, with the goal of helping close the “justice gap.” As a signatory, our firm commits to adopting certain goals and principles related to our pro bono legal services, including the goal of contributing at least 2% of our legal services to those in need in our communities.

The Captains’ Table

Sands Anderson co-organizes The Captains’ Table with Atlantic Union Bank. The goal of The Captains’ Table is to provide local non-profit CEOs and executive directors in the Richmond region with monthly networking and educational opportunities. They learn essential nonprofit management details such as fundraising best practices and selecting quality board members, among other topics. They also have an outlet for connecting with fellow community members and fostering deeper collaborative efforts across all community efforts.

Our Committee In Action