CALIFORNIA LAWYER Magazine, February 2001 (p. 19), http://www.publishersweekly.com, “Good Works”

Rarely do good works start in bars — at least not the type where rock bands blast away while college students swill beer.

C. Andrew Dirksen, however, is not your typical lawyer. In 1989 the Boston College undergraduate went to The Paradise Bar to hear the rock band Phish. His enthusiam for the group grew during his years in law shool, and by 1997 he was routinely reviewing the band’s music and concerts online. So when a fellow Phish fan, Craig Delucia of Deloitte and Touche, conceived the idea of doing a book about the band that would raise money for charity, Dirksen signed on to help manage the project.

Over the past four years, Dirksen estimates he has donated more than 700 hours to The Phish Companion, which was published last year by Miller Freeman, and the Mockingbird Foundation, the nonprofit corporation that brought it together. All proceeds from the book will go directly to nonprofit work in music education for children.

Dirksen, who practices antitrust law at San Francisco’s Gold Bennett Cera and Sidener, was not the only California lawyer involved. Dan Purcell, an associated at Keker and Van Nest, is also on the board of The Mockingbird Foundation and helped define the philanthropic goals of the group. The group’s first grants are open for application and will range from $50 to $5,000 to develop the musical talents of children, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds.

-Katrina Dervey