The new Douglas County Justice Center, located at 1717 Harney Street, Omaha, will be open for an important adoption celebration on Saturday, November 18, from 8:30 a.m. to noon. National Adoption Day festivities will begin with a press conference at 8:30 a.m. in the first-floor conference room, immediately followed by adoption hearings in the juvenile courtrooms on floors 2 and 3. Judge Candice Novak is hosting the event this year with all juvenile judges holding adoption hearings. There are 42...Read more

The director of the Office of Dispute Resolution, Kelly Riley, collaborated with Kristen Blankley, the Henry M. Grether, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, to author an article for the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Magazine. The article, “Providing Access to Mediation for Rural Participants Nebraska’s Story,” shares what a fictional mediation case in rural Nebraska might look like, addresses Nebraska’s commitment to mediation across the state, and...Read more

Seward County Court Clerk Magistrate Sheila Beins submitted her notice of retirement effective December 15, 2023. She will retire with 41 years of service to the courts. Beins began work with the Judicial Branch as a Records Clerk in 1982. She was named Associate County Judge in 1985. That position transitioned into the clerk magistrate position she holds today. Beins shared that in her time with the court, she has served only four judges: Judge Robert Cattle, Judge Alan Gless, Judge Jerry...Read more