For more than 40 years, associates at Dorsey & Whitney helped the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office prosecute misdemeanor cases. Each year, a handful of the firm’s litigation associates would spend 14 weeks working with prosecutors and gaining hands-on courtroom experience.

But after George Floyd’s alleged murder by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, which has sparked national and international protests against police brutality and inequities in the criminal justice system—and after seeing several studies showing that misdemeanor prosecution disproportionately affects people of color—Dorsey ended its relationship with prosecutors. The firm said it intends to be “part of the solution.”