NSBA News

NSBA Diversity Section Forming
NSBA is gauging interest in formation of a new Diversity Section.  The purpose of the section will be to promote a more diverse legal community and to address diversity issues arising in the practice of law.  Diversity will be broadly defined to include color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, gender, and other identities or issues that may impact full participation in the legal community.  The section will be open to any interested voluntary NSBA member.  Among its potential activities, the section could assume leadership of the annual Diversity Summit, review applications to award LSAT scholarships, and provide a way to connect employers wanting a more diverse workforce with potential employees. In addition to larger events of interest to many members, the Section could have smaller committees to address more narrow issues or provide a way for specific group members to connect.

The timing for a new section is good for several reasons.  Nebraska’s legal community is slowly becoming more diverse, and NSBA would like to provide more opportunities for lawyers to connect and support each other.  The Nebraska Supreme Court’s Minority Justice Committee is ending.  Some of its responsibilities will shift to a new Access to Justice Committee, but that committee will not address diversity in the legal profession.

If you haven’t already responded to a survey request on a possible Diversity Section, please complete this very brief survey to let us know what you think.

Journey To Cuba - April 26 - 30, 2018
This is an exciting time in US-Cuba relations. Recent changes are generating substantial interest from the business and legal communities in America. The Nebraska State Bar Association is partnering with Cuba Cultural Travel (CCT) to give you the opportunity to travel to Cuba. Cuba Cultural travel has organized educational tours for a variety of organizations for the last 15 years.  Please join Kim Robak and Bill Mueller, Tom and Mary Maul, Bob and Dian Hillis and Jane Langan Mach and Jeff Mach from April 26-30, 2018, on this once-in-a-lifetime trip.  Complete Trip Information

Leadership Academy Nominations Now Being Accepted - Deadline August 18, 2017
The Nebraska State Bar Association is pleased to announce the tenth annual Leadership Academy designed to develop and nurture future leaders of the association and profession. Class size is limited to 25 participants in order to ensure a high quality of participation and instruction. The members of the class will participate in a mandatory day and a half retreat on September 14-15, 2017 at the Carol Joy Hollings Camp in Ashland as well as a wide range of seminars during the five month academy starting in November. Schedule and Brochure

The academy is open to active, NSBA dues-paying members that will be in their third to fifteenth year of practice. Tuition of $500 covers the cost of all programs, meals, receptions, graduation dinner and printed materials. Programs offered by the Leadership Academy can fulfill your mandatory continuing legal education credits for the year. Individual participants are responsible for their own travel and personal expenses. Mileage and hotel reimbursement will be provided if you are required to travel more than 150 miles to attend a program session. Limited scholarships are also available and may be requested on the application form.

Complete and return the application form if you wish to apply to become a member of the Leadership Academy.  Please return your completed application form by August 18, 2017 to Sam Clinch, Nebraska State Bar Association, 635 S 14th St. #200, Lincoln, NE 68508.

If you would like to encourage a NSBA dues-paying member to participate in the Academy you can nominate them. Fill out the enclosed nomination form and a formal application will be sent to the nominee for the Leadership Academy.  Please return your completed nomination form by August 1, 2017.

District Court Judge William Zastera to Retire October 1, 2017
Judge of the District Court, 2nd Judicial District, William B. Zastera, is retiring effective October 1, 2017, after more than 26 years of service on the county and district court benches in Papillion, Nebraska and the surrounding area.

In his resignation letter to the Governor, Judge Zastera noted, “It has been my pleasure to serve the citizens of the State of Nebraska for the last 26 years as both a County and District Judge.” He continued, “It has also been my pleasure of serving with what I consider to be the finest judiciary on both the County and District Court benches.”  Full Press Release

2017 Outstanding Young Lawyer Award
The Outstanding Young Lawyer Award is presented annually to a young lawyer who has made exemplary contributions to the community and to public service, who has actively participated in State and local bar activities, and who stands out in the areas of professional knowledge, skill, integrity and courtesy.

To nominate a young lawyer for this award, please complete and return this form. You may be contacted, confidentially, for more information on your nominee. Nominations must be received no later than September 8, 2017, by the YLS Executive Committee, c/o Leslie Shaver; Simmons Olsen Law Firm, P.C.; 1502 2nd Ave.; Scottsbluff, NE 69361. Nominations may also be e-mailed to lshaver@simmonsolsen.com.

Recent Supreme Court Opinions

Week of July 21, 2017

Week of July 14, 2017

For a complete listing of recent opinions, visit the Nebraska Judicial Branch Website.

Articles

Seven Ways to Optimize Your Law Firm’s Website
By Barbara Bowden, Originally Published in Attorney at Work
Gone are the days when people relied only on personal recommendations or traditional advertising to find a lawyer. Google has stepped into the role of the “trusted friend” recommending a lawyer, and online local reviews serve as word-of-mouth in your community. This is why it is important to take the right steps to ensure your website and online presence work for you. Try these seven tips.  Full Article

Five Word Styles Lawyers Need to Know
By Luigi Benetton, Originally Published in Attorney at Work
Have you ever spent hours fine-tuning a Microsoft Word document to ensure a consistent “look and feel” throughout? If so, I suspect you don’t want to do that again.

You especially don’t want to repeat the experience when someone asks you to change the fonts and spacing throughout after you’re done.

If you still spend hours formatting documents, you probably need to learn how to use Word styles. In a nutshell, styles control the look of the text that they are applied to.  Full Article

How to Use Stress Before It Uses You
By Eva Selhub, Originally Published in ABA Law Practice Today
Stress is part of life. You can’t get around it. If you did manage to get around it, you would likely be dead.

You actually need stress to live.

Without stress, you would not get up in the morning, get to work on time, put food on the table, or shift positions when you are uncomfortable.  Full Article 

Resources

Member Benefit Spotlight: Clio
Clio is the most widely used legal cloud-based practice management software. Tens of thousands of lawyers and legal professionals use Clio to organize their cases, track time, invoice their clients, generate documents, and more. Working on Mac and PC, and through iPhone, iPad, and Android apps, lawyers can easily access and manage their practice from any location and on any device.

Clio is the only practice management platform that integrates with other Nebraska State Bar Association member benefits, like LawPay for credit card processing. Nebraska lawyers can easily connect these services together for seamless syncing of information. Clio also integrates with other popular software like Dropbox, Quickbooks, Gmail, and Google Apps, letting law firms design their perfect practice with their favorite tools.

Members of the Nebraska State Bar Association receive an exclusive 10% discount on Clio. Register here for a free trial.

Casemaker Weekly Update

Selecting Jurisdictions

Need to search all the documents in a state? How about all the documents in more than one state? You can select a jurisdiction or any combination of jurisdictions to search by clicking the Jurisdiction menu. This is located in the box located between the search box and the blue search button. There is a blue downward pointing arrow in the right side of this box. Clicking on this arrow will pull up the pop-up menu and from here you can check as many or as few boxes as you need. Special boxes are located at the top of each column. Related Federal will pull documents from any states you selected as well as the related Federal District and Circuit courts. All States will pull documents from all the state libraries. All Federal will pull documents from all Federal libraries. 

Accessing Casemaker - A Valued Member Benefit!

Casemaker is provided to you as a benefit of your bar association membership. You get case law, statutes, rules, regulations and more for all fifty state and federal jurisdictions. To access Casemaker, simply log in to the bar website and click on the Casemaker link in the member’s area. You will be automatically transferred into Casemaker from the bar. Remember to access Casemaker you must go through the bar's website every time. To save time, bookmark the bar’s website! Once you are Casemaker you can register for free webinar training by clicking the Webinar link in the upper right of the Casemaker screen. 

How does Casemaker stay Current?

Our headquarters in Charlottesville, VA has ten editors with over 275 years of experience in legal publishing. Data for State and Federal acts are obtained daily. The Acts are analyzed by a state editor, classified and effective dates determined.  Then they are processed into the code which includes amendments, enactments, repeals, and re-numberings.  The code is then published.  Data is converted and delivered to the editorial team within 24 hours of receipt and the Acts are published in Casemaker within 24 hours of receipt.  Statutes are updated and published within 7 business days of receipt of the Acts.  This means statutes are kept up-to-date throughout sessions; statutes have added editorial value such as linked history lines, effective dates for all states, sections set out twice for postponed amendments, and retention of repeals in most states for historical reference; and materials are quality checked for completeness and accuracy.