CHARITABLE FUNDS INC.,
CFI's Barristers' Ball
The First Annual Barristers’ Ball
"Starry Starry Night " is scheduled for April
30, 2005 at the Hilton Omaha Downtown. The Barristers' Ball
is a black-tie optional celebration in the cause of improving
access to justice in Nebraska. Over 400 leaders from the
fields of law, business, government, and community development
from across the state will be attending. The ball includes
a reception, gourmet dinner, silent and live auctions and
a dance. Through corporate sponsorship and generous patrons,
the ball is expected to raise substantial dollars that fund
the NSBA's Pro Bono legal services program, the Volunteer
Lawyers Project. To be a law firm sponsor or to buy a table,
click here. To buy tickets online, go to http://www.nebar.com/store/category.asp?category=81
THANK
YOU TO THE SPONSORS OF THE BARRISTERS BALL!!
Mark your calendars!! The second annual Race Judicata is
scheduled for April 30, 2005 at Chalco Hills
THANK
YOU TO THE SPONSORS OF THE SECOND ANNUAL RACE JUDICATA!!
Don't miss out on the second annual
Greater Nebraska Golf Scramble on June 17, 2005 at Wild
Horse Golf Course in Gothenburg!
THANK
YOU TO THE SPONSORS OF THE SECOND ANNUAL GREATER NEBRASKA
GOLF TOURNAMENT!!
The ninth annual NSBA golf tournament will be August 26,
2005 at the Platteview Country Club!
Back to Top
NEW JOBS POSTED ON JUDICIAL BRANCH WEB SITE
Click
here to see new jobs posted on Judicial Branch Web Site:
Assistant Clerk I, Ogallala, NE
Bailiff, Omaha, NE
Budget Officer, Lincoln, NE
Clerk Magistrate, Grand Island, NE
Court Stenographer, Seward, NE
Criminal Traffic Cashier/Clerk, Omaha, NE
Dispute Resolution Services/Rural Court Services Director,
Lincoln, NE
Official Court Reporter, Lexington, NE
Official Court Reporter, Omaha, NE
Statewide Coordinator of Problem Solving Courts, Lincoln,
NE
Janet Bancroft
jhammer@nsc.state.ne.us
Nebraska Supreme Court Public Information Officer The Executive
Building, 521 South 14th Street, Suite 200 Lincoln, NE 68509
P: 402-471-3205 F:402-471-3071
web: www.nebraskacourt.com
Back to Top
GOV. JOHANNS APPOINTS JAMES M. WORDEN OF SCOTTSBLUFF TO TWELFTH
JUDICIAL DISTRICT JUDGESHIP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 29, 2004, 5:00 p.m. CT
CONTACT
Terri Teuber, 402-471-1967
Gov. Johanns Appoints James M. Worden of Scottsbluff
to Twelfth Judicial District Judgeship
(Lincoln, Neb.) Gov. Mike Johanns today announced his nomination
of James M. Worden as county court judge for the Twelfth Judicial
District Court.
The seat was vacated when Judge James Macken resigned.
The twelfth judicial district includes the counties of Banner,
Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Garden, Kimball, Morrill,
Scotts Bluff, Sheridan and Sioux.
“I was impressed with the caliber of the nominees and particularly
impressed with James Worden,” Gov. Johanns said. “He will
be an excellent addition to the district court bench given
his broad base of experience in the Nebraska legal system
and his extensive involvement in the community.”
Worden, 39, has practiced law with Simmons Olsen Law Firm,
P.C. since 1992 where he has focused on employment law and
criminal defense. Worden also served as deputy county attorney
and county attorney for Banner County.
Worden has been actively involved in the community. He is
a past United Way Campaign county co-chairman and board member,
a past board president of Scotts Bluff County Crime Stoppers,
and a board member for Community Christian School. He was
honored with the Jaycees Outstanding Community Service Award
for 1997-1998. Worden has also been actively involved in youth
programs. He coached area youth in football and basketball,
and started a track club, where he continues to serve as a
coach and mentor.
Worden earned his undergraduate degree in history from the
University of Nebraska in 1989 and his law degree from the
University of Nebraska in 1992.
Back to Top
HOUSE MEETINGS/LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION
CLICK
HERE FOR THE NSBA CALENDAR
The House of Delegates will meet on Friday, January 28, 2005
at the Holiday Inn in Lincoln. The meeting will begin at 9:00
a.m. The purpose of the meeting is to determine the legislative
positions of the NSBA for the 2005 session of the Unicameral.
The House of Delegates is expected to review nearly 200 bills
for the 2005 session. The positions taken by the House will
be available on the NSBA website, or by calling Jane Schoenike
at the NSBA office.
The NSBA will sponsor a Legislative Reception on Thursday,
January 27, 2004, beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the Hruska Law
Center in Lincoln. The Reception will begin at 5:00 p.m. Members
of the Legislature are invited to attend. If you are interested
in attending, please call Jane Schoenike at 402-475-7091 or
800-927-0117.
Attached is a Legislative
Contact Form. William Mueller of Ruth, Mueller and Robak,
Legislative Counsel for the NSBA is requesting information
from members of the NSBA. Completion of the form is optional,
but your cooperation is appreciated. Return the form to William
Mueller, 530 S. 13th St, Suite 110, Lincoln, NE 68508 or by
e-mail to Mueller@ruthmueller.com.
Future meetings of the House of Delegates will be held on
Friday, April 22, 2005 at University of Nebraska-Kearney and
on Thursday, November 10, 2005 at the Cornhusker Hotel in
Lincoln, during the 2005 Annual Meeting.
Back to Top
YOUNG LAWYERS BEST PRACTICES
SEMINAR SERIES
You are invited by the Nebraska State
Bar Association's Mentoring Committee and Young Lawyers Section to
attend, free of charge, the Best Practices seminar series. The
eight session series will focus on a wide range of substantive
topics and will offer practical training for new lawyers and
identify available resources to aid in your practice. The sessions
will be led by experienced Nebraska attorneys who will offer
insight, from a practical prospective, on how to successfully
practice law. Additionally, at the conclusion of each seminar, the
Nebraska State Bar Association will sponsor a free Reception for
the participants to get to know each other and other members of
the Nebraska Bar. Here is your opportunity to obtain high quality
training at no cost and meet many fellow Bar Members.
The first session of 2005 is scheduled for February 9, 2005
at the Hall of Justice, Courtroom #32. Chief Justice Hendry,
Judge Kopf, Judge Flowers, Judge Hoffert and Judge Lovell
will discuss what lawyers should and should not be doing in
their courtrooms. A reception will follow. Click here for the registration form.
Back to Top
TWO SPANISH COURT INTERPRETERS TO BE CERTIFIED
January 4, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TWO SPANISH COURT INTERPRETERS
TO BE CERTIFIED BY THE NEBRASKA SUPREME COURT
LINCOLN – The Nebraska Supreme Court announces that two interpreters
have successfully passed the oral certification court interpreter
exam sponsored by the Consortium of the National Center for
State Courts. Irma Watt of Hooper, Nebraska and Dale H. Taylor
of Norfolk, Nebraska will become Nebraska Supreme Court Spanish
Certified Court Interpreters.
The two interpreters will receive their certification and
take their oath as Certified Court Interpreters in a ceremony
to be held in the Madison County Courtroom in Madison, Nebraska,
on January 21, 2005, at 1:30 p.m.
Members of the public are invited to attend.
Justice John M. Gerrard of the Nebraska Supreme Court will
preside over the ceremony and will speak of the need for providing
equal access to the courts for all participants. County Judges
Richard W. Krepela, Donna Farrell Taylor and Philip R. Riley
from the 7th Judicial District, will also participate in the
ceremony.
“It is crucial to the overall fairness of the system that
judicial proceedings are completely and accurately interpreted
for non-English speaking participants. The Nebraska Supreme
Court is pleased with these interpreters who have worked so
hard to become certified and for all of the other interpreters
who are working toward certification,” said Justice Gerrard.
Irma Watt, born in Odessa, Texas, was a migrant field worker
as a young woman. She came to Nebraska where she received
an Associate of Arts degree from Northeast Community College
in Gering, Nebraska. She worked for the State of Nebraska
Department of Health and Human Services in Norfolk as a Family
Support Worker and a Protection and Safety Worker. One of
her duties for the Department of Health and Human Services
was to work with the Spanish speaking families involved with
Child Protective Services. Since 2000 she has been a freelance
Spanish interpreter for the courts and attorneys in Dodge,
Cuming, Saunders, Dakota, Madison, Stanton and Wayne counties.
She is very active in her church where she volunteers 70 hours
per month in Bible education work for the Spanish community.
For the last three years she has been an Attitudinal Dynamics
of Driving Spanish instructor for the Nebraska Safety Council.
Irma and her husband Michael have three children: Elia Soto,
Eloy Watt, and a deceased son, Omar Soto.
Dale Taylor was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1957 to missionary
parents.
His mother is Canadian, and his father is a U.S. citizen with
Portuguese as his first spoken language. He graduated from
a private boarding school on the banks of the Amazon River
in 1975. He went on to study Theology, Applied Anthropology,
Rural Medicine, and Language Acquisition Principles under
New Tribes Mission International and went to Mexico in September
of 1981. Initially he directed a Spanish language course and
four years later moved into the village of Caborachi in the
Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico where he studied the Tarahumara
Indigenous culture and learned their language. He served as
a missionary leader, teacher, and community health spokesman
until he and his wife moved to Nebraska in October of 2000.
Since then he has worked as a court interpreter in northeast
Nebraska. He also works with the Community Character Development
Coalition (CCDC) under which he developed a program called
‘No Regrets’ given to minors on probation and diversion. The
course is being taught in group homes and at
the juvenile detention center in Madison County. Dale and
his wife Lori
have four children: Ben, Crystal, Jay and Melissa.
These two interpreters join eleven other previously certified
Nebraska court interpreters who have successfully passed the
National Center for State Court’s Court Interpreter Consortium’s
oral certification exam.
Nebraska is one of thirty-one states who have joined the Consortium
whose sole purpose to create court interpreter certification
exams and administer those exams in order to provide for professional
court interpreters for the member states. The oral exams were
given in Lincoln on October 15 and 16, 2004.
Contact Kenneth Wade at the Office of the State Court Administrator,
402-471-3730, concerning any aspect of the certification ceremony
or the state interpreter program.
Back to Top
EFFECTIVE JANUARY 20, 2005, THE JUDGMENT INTEREST RATE WILL
BE 4.630%
http://court.nol.org/community/interestrate.htm
Back to Top
Commission on Children in the Courts Named by Chief Justice
John V. Hendry
Chief Justice John V. Hendry has announced the formation
of the Supreme Court Commission on Children in the Courts.
The Commission; co-chaired by Judge Everett O. Inbody, Chief
Judge of the Court of Appeals and Douglas County Separate
Juvenile Court Judge Douglas F. Johnson; consists of judges,
lawyers, representatives of the legislative and executive
branches, and childrens’ advocates.
“We are committed to making improvements for children who
are involved with the court system,” said Chief Justice John
V. Hendry.
The initial goal of the commission is to begin a study of
appropriate steps for the judicial system to undertake to
insure that the court system is as responsive as possible
for children who interact with, or are directly affected by
the courts.
The Commission will establish working sub-committees, with
additional members from all disciplines, to address short
and long term concerns in the court system. Two subcommittees
have already been established, one will research the effectiveness
of the legal representation of children within the system,
including developing standards and training protocols for
lawyers who represent children in abuse and neglect cases
and in cases involving juvenile delinquency. A second subcommittee
will investigate time frames of the current process for termination
of parental rights along with other child abuse cases to determine
if there are unnecessary delays.
The commission will also explore the possibility of specialized
family courts, ways in which welfare agencies and volunteers
can work together, and the effectiveness of drug courts.
The commission will meet at least quarterly to review the
responsiveness of courts statewide to children, to investigate
system concerns, to research more effective and efficient
approaches to these cases, and to make recommendations for
change to the Supreme Court when warranted.
“I am very pleased that all of our commission members have
enthusiastically agreed to participate in this important endeavor,”
said Chief Justice Hendry, “Having a commission consisting
of some of the finest members of our community makes me very
confident that its important mission will be successful.”
As co-chairs of the commission, Judges Inbody and Johnson
have nearly 30 years of judicial experience between them,
much of which has been with children.
Judge Inbody currently serves as the Chief Judge of the Court
of Appeals and has been an active member of the Court Improvement
Project, which is dedicated to serving children within the
court system. He has served as a juvenile judge through the
county court in the 5th judicial district and participated
as a member of National Council of Juvenile and Family Court
Judges during his tenure on that bench.
Judge Doug Johnson is a Separate Juvenile Court Judge in
Omaha and is presently a trustee for the National Council
of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. His training regarding
child abuse, evidence and ethics is nationally known through
the National Judicial College and the National Council. For
his ‘unselfish commitment to the community,’ Judge Johnson
was given the 2001 Chief Justice’s Distinguished Judge for
Service to the Community Award.
Other members of the Commission are:
Sen. Patrick Bourne, District 8, Omaha
Lynnette Z. Boyle, Attorney/Guardian Ad Litem, Omaha Hon.
G. Glenn Camerer, County Judge, Gering Hon. Vernon Daniels,
Separate Juvenile Judge, Omaha Mark Ells, Attorney, UNL Center
on Children, Families, and the Law Bob Goodwin, Private Attorney,
Sidney Marsha E. Fangmeyer, Attorney, Kearney Hon. Lawrence
Gendler, Separate Juvenile Judge, Papillion Rebecca R. Harling,
Deputy County Attorney, North Platte Meghan Houston, Nebraska
CASA Hon. Paul Korslund, District Judge, Beatrice Hon. Patrick
McDermott, County Judge, Schuyler Nancy Montanez, Director,
Health and Human Services Kathy Bigsby Moore, Director, Voices
for Children Nicole Neesen, Attorney, Creighton Legal Clinic
Jodi Nelson, Juvenile County Attorney, Lancaster County Mary
Jo Pankoke, Co-Director, Governor’s Task Force &
Commission on the Protection of Children Hon. Linda Porter,
Separate Juvenile Judge, Lincoln Sen. Ron Raikes, District
25, Lincoln Hon. Gerald Rouse, County Judge, Seward James
E. Ruby, Attorney, Seward Hon. Patrick Runge, District Judge,
Winnebago Tribal Court, Winnebago Jane Schoenike, Executive
Director, Nebraska State Bar Association Dick Stafford, Private
Attorney, Norfolk Roberta Stick, Director, Nebraska Legal
Services Carol Stitt, Director, Foster Care Review Board Sen.
Nancy Thompson, District 14, Papillion Kenneth Vampola, Chair,
Nebraska Parole Board Marlene Vetick, Clerk, Platte County
District Court Hon. Gary G. Washburn, County Judge, Broken
Bow Elizabeth A. F. Waterman, Dawson County Attorney, Lexington
Kirs Wertz, Appellate Law Clerk, Wahoo
Back to Top
SEVEN SUBMIT THEIR NAMES FOR COUNTY JUDGE IN THE SIXTH JUDICIAL
DISTRICT
Thomas J. Klein, Wahoo; Dennis E. Koley, Arlington; Leland
K. Miner, Wakefield; Michael W. Pirtle, Omaha; Joe W. Stecher,
Hooper; Kenneth J. Vampola, Arlington; and Paul J. Vaughan,
Fremont, have submitted applications for appointment as County
Judge in the 6th Judicial District consisting of Burt, Cedar,
Dakota, Dixon, Dodge, Thurston, and Washington counties. The
vacancy is due to the resignation of Judge Daniel J. Beckwith,
effective December 2, 2004. The public hearing of the Judicial
Nominating Commission will be held at the Judicial Center,
428 N. Broad St., 3rd Floor, County Courtroom A, in Fremont,
Nebraska, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 27,
2005. The primary office of the judicial vacancy will be Fremont,
Dodge County, Nebraska. The Commission will review all applicants
for the office at that time. The public is welcome to attend
the hearing and present information concerning candidates
for the judicial opening.
A listing of the members of the Judicial Nominating Commission
can be found on the Nebraska Judicial Branch Web site at www.nebraskacourt.com/jnc/rostercc&dc6.htm
For special accommodations relating to the Americans with
Disabilities Act, please call (402) 471-3730.
Back to Top
