Chief Justice Mike Heavican and Office of Dispute Resolution Director Debora Denny awarded a 25th Anniversary commendation to The Mediation Center (TMC) in Lincoln on November 16, 2017. The Mediation Center Executive Director Casey Karges and Board Chair Jim Gordon accepted the honor. The event was held at the Lincoln Country Club, where over 100 attended the anniversary celebration.

UNL College of Law Professor Alan Frank, State Deputy Ombudsman Carl Eskridge, Debora Denny and others noted highlights of The Mediation Center's 25 years of mediation services to courts and the public. Mary Bruning and Jim O'Hanlon received Master Mediator Awards.

The Mediation Center began mediating with families in Lincoln in 1992 and had 7 cases that year. Ten years later it opened 259 cases and twenty years later, 695 cases. In 2016-2017, an astounding 1,003 mediation cases were opened, with over 62% being parenting plan cases, nearly 20% court-referred child welfare and juvenile justice cases, and 15% small claims court cases.

The Mediation Center is one of six regional ODR-approved mediation centers across the state, each celebrating 25 years of mediation services.

Photo: (R to L) Nebraska ODR Director Debora Denny, The Mediation Center Executive Director Casey Karges, Chief Justice Heavican, and TMC Board Chair Jim Gordon at the 25^th Anniversary Celebration.

Read more about mediation in Nebraska: Office of Dispute Resolution (https://supremecourt.nebraska.gov/programs-services/mediation)