Hall of Fame Inductee John Boyer’s office reflects his interest in animals, art and adventure. Included in his collection is an autographed photo of David Breashears at the summit of Mount Everest. His climb (one of many) resulted in the IMAX film Everest, which was shown at the Henry Doorly Zoo’s IMAX theater, a place very close to Boyer’s heart.
Six To Be Honored
Fraser Stryker’s Boyer To Be Inducted
Into Omaha Business Hall of Fame
By Andy Roberts
The Daily Record
While he may never have been hired as your attorney, it is not a stretch to say that John K. Boyer has represented you.
Boyer, a partner at Fraser Stryker PC LLO, has been named a member of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce’s Omaha Business Hall of Fame, joining five other outstanding community leaders in the Class of 2014.
It was 45 years ago that Boyer, fresh out of the University of Nebraska College of Law, joined Fraser Stryker. In fact, a lot of things happened for Boyer in that year of 1969.
One of them was, two weeks after he graduated from law school, he passed the bar exam as offered in those days.
“It was a very quick process,” Boyer admitted.  He also started working at Fraser Stryker, received his draft notice, joined the Nebraska Army National Guard in November, went on six months active duty, remaining in the Guard until 1975, and married his wife, Lynne.
“1969 was a busy year,” he agrees. “Good thing my wife was teaching school. … We had enough money to live on while I was in basic training.”
The Boyers have two extremely successful sons.
What drew Boyer to a career in the legal profession?
“I think from the time I was probably in junior high on … I just got kind of an interest in the law,” he remembered.
Good thing for this community that he was – Boyer has been involved in so many things. Born and raised in Omaha, he graduated from Benson High School where he is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics at Southern Methodist University.
During his career, Boyer has served as general counsel to the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, has been on the board of directors for the Chamber since 1996, and has chaired the Chamber board.
“Our firm still represents the Chamber,” Boyer proudly stated. “We’ve been involved with a lot of their projects, all over town, for a very long time.
“My focus, throughout my career, has been corporations and taxation,” he said. That includes for profit and nonprofit operations. … The corporate area laps over into a lot of different things.”
A long-time member of the Omaha Bar Association, Nebraska State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association, Boyer’s corporate affiliations include service on the board of directors of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. and Walter Scott’s Tetrad Corp. He also has been a board member at the Walter and Suzanne Scott Foundation, as well as the Dixon Family Foundation, plus the Clifton and Anne Stuart Batchelder Foundation.
The Boy Scouts also have benefitted from Boyer’s legal skills. He “kind of grew up” in the organization and earned his Eagle Scout badge, and later served as legal counsel for the Boy Scouts.
“I was chairman of the [Mid-America] Council for 10 years,” Boyer recalled. “It was just a way I could kind of give back [for] the great experiences of my youth.”
Boyer has been on the board of directors of the Omaha Zoological Society for the better part of 30 years, serving as president for about 20 years. He continues to serve on the board and its executive committee.
“I’ve been deeply involved in most of the projects of the last two decades,” he said, including the acquisition of the Rosenblatt Stadium site for the zoo.
“It’s just been one extremely rewarding experience for me,” Boyer stated.
He points out, as a Business Hall-of-Famer should, that the zoo has a $143-million dollar annual economic impact on his home state. That, he explains, is bigger than Cornhusker football, as the zoo drew an attendance of more than 1.6 million people last year, or more than double its surrounding population base.
“That’s really unheard of,” Boyer stated, pointing to the zoo’s more than 75,000 members.
“Those numbers are extraordinary numbers in the zoo world,” he emphasized.
The Henry Doorly Zoo is a Top Five zoo, worldwide, all things considered, Boyer stressed.
“The zoo is a big business.”
The latest addition – on the old Rosenblatt site – is the “Infield at the Zoo” presentation, which commemorates the stadium’s original home plate and recognizes the stadium’s legacy.
Boyer also has fond memories of the time in 1996 when he helped bring one of the zoo’s most prominent residents home to Omaha. Click here for full story
 On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the CRE Summit, William Kristol is the event’s first nationally known keynote speaker.
Political Commentator Kristol Tells
Workers to Pay Attention to Politics
By Julien R. Fielding
The Daily Record
William Kristol, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard and political commentator at ABC News, delivered the keynote address at the Commercial Real Estate Summit last week in Omaha, beginning his hour-long speech talking about his days (1983-85) at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where he said he was the “token conservative.” Click here for full story
 Jake Hillwick has built his business on exceeding expectations and solving problems for his customers.
– Photo by JordanGreen.com Owner Says HotShot Deliveries Is
Actually Customer Service, Not Deliveries By Dan McCann
The Daily Record
Jake Hillwick, owner and chief operations officer of Omaha-based HotShot Deliveries Inc., knows the pressure is on – every day, every delivery.
“It’s always the delivery company’s fault,” he laughed. “They’re judged by their last failure, not their last success.” Click here for full story For more information regarding HotShot Deliveries, please visit their website at www.hotshotdeliveries.com.
Paypal sponsors the Chamber’s Small Business of the Month award. To nominate a small business online, visit www.omahachamber.org. Nominees must be current Chamber members with 50 employees or less.
McGrath North:
Powers Inducted as Fellow; Grob Earns LL.M. Degree  McGrath North recently announced that Jim Powers, co-chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group, has been inducted as a fellow of the Nebraska State Bar Foundation.
Nomination for the fellows program is an honor that is given annually to 30 attorneys. The selection is based on multiple criteria including the integrity and character of the individual, dedication to improving the administration of justice and a leader of the legal profession recognized by colleagues.
Powers is a highly regarded trial lawyer whose practice focuses on all types of litigation important to businesses. Powers’ practice includes the representation of many of the top financial and agribusiness companies in the Midwest.
With his installation, Powers joins 14 other McGrath North attorneys: A. Stevenson Bogue, Robert J. Bothe, James P. Fitzgerald, William F. Hargens, Lee H. Hamann, David L. Hefflinger, Dean G. Kratz, J. Terry Macnamara, Roger J. Miller, Robert D. Mullin, Jr., Nicholas K. Niemann, Terrence D. O’Hare, Jeffrey J. Pirruccello, and Roger W. Wells - as a Fellow of the Nebraska Bar Foundation. Powers started with McGrath North in 1982 as a law clerk and has been a shareholder in McGrath North since 1986. He is also a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. He has been listed in Best Lawyers® since 2012 and is listed in Great Plains Super Lawyers (Business Litigation) and Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
Jonathan L. Grob  McGrath North has also announced that attorney Jonathan L. Grob recently earned a master of laws (LL.M.) degree in taxation from the NYU School of Law. Grob joins McGrath North attorney Matthew R. Ottemann in earning this distinction.
Grob is a shareholder at McGrath North and a member of the firm’s tax, trusts and estates practice group. He focuses his practice on all aspects of federal and state taxation, estate, gift and business succession planning, tax exempt entity planning, estate administration, executive compensation and corporate law.
The LL.M. designation is an internationally recognized postgraduate law degree, indicating advanced specialized legal training - in this case, taxation. The NYU School of Law’s LL.M. taxation program is widely considered to be the strongest in the United States. Only a small number of Nebraska attorneys have achieved the LL.M. degree, two of whom practice law at McGrath North.
In addition to an LL.M. degree, Grob holds a juris doctor degree, with high distinction from the University of Nebraska College of Law and a B.S.B.A. degree, cum laude from the University of Colorado-Denver.
For more information regarding McGrath North, please visit www.mcgrathnorth.com
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|  Judge Warren K. Urbom
Reception on Friday
Urbom Wraps Up 44 Years on the Bench
By Andy Roberts
The Daily Record
Lincoln – When Senior U.S. District Judge Warren K. Urbom took office, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were about to win their first national championship in football, the United States was still fighting a war in Vietnam, and Richard Nixon was president.
It was Nixon, in fact, who appointed Urbom.
Now, 88 years old and having worked in senior status for more than two decades, Urbom is set to take off the robes one last time on Friday, 44 years to the day from his swearing-in as a judge.
He leaves with no regrets. “I’ve loved being a judge in this city and territory,” Urbom said. While others may agree he has earned his retirement, they also share the sentiment that he will be missed.
Omaha trial attorney Dave Domina has no problem recalling the first of many times he has appeared in court before Urbom.
“My first real memory of appearing in front of him was a dispute between two rural landowners,” Domina remembers. “I remember how gentlemanly he was with both of them and how he calmed them down.”
Domina, now the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, said he felt Urbom was able to make people feel like respect was in order, was always calm, and prepared well for court.
“The loser always felt heard,” Domina stated. “He was just a model judge.”
Domina recalled last seeing the judge as Urbom was walking down the hall of a Lincoln hospital on the way to visit his ailing wife, Joyce, who died in 2010. The couple had been married 57 years.
“Judge Urbom is a person who has a presence – he still has it,” Domina said. “It’s almost an aura.”
Domina said he hopes to see more judges like Urbom.
“He deserves every kind comment people will make about him.”
U.S. District Judge Lyle Strom recalled the first time he met his colleague.
The year was 1970 and the two were in St. Louis where they were about to be inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers. Their paths had previously not crossed. Urbom, who recently had become a judge, had done most of his work as an attorney in Lincoln, while Strom, not yet a judge, had done most of his work as a lawyer in Omaha.
It was 15 years later, in 1985, when Strom joined the federal bench. He took his oath of office from Judge Warren Urbom.
Strom, 89, called his slightly younger colleague: “The real epitome of a trial judge. He was one of the finest judges I ever appeared before.”
As an attorney and advocate for his clients, Strom said, he predictably didn’t always agree with Urbom, but respected him tremendously.
“He was maybe better prepared than you were,” Strom expressed. “He was very studious. He was very thoughtful.” Click here for full story
 Firm partner Thomas Zuk, AIA, LEED AP and Curt Witzenburg, AIA, the newest senior partner in the firm of Holland Basham, acknowledge that technology has revolutionized architecture.
Holland Basham Architects Marks 25th Year
With Steady Growth and Newest Technolog
By Jack Martin
The Daily Record
In the usual groundbreaking, a company executive will wield a ceremonial shovel and talk about the building “that will rise on this site.”
Now, the executive can also grab an iPad and actually see that building on the site – an image of it, anyway – thanks to 21st century technology being used by Holland Basham Architects of Omaha. Clients can also pick up and examine a model of their planned building, a model produced by a 3D printer, another modern marvel.
“We’ve come a long way from the old drafting table,” said Curtis Witzenburg, AIA, who recently was named a senior partner in the firm, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary on May 10. Click here for full story
Joint Ethics & Professionalism Seminar Draws Hundreds  Greg O’Meara, S.J. Dennis Carlson J. Scott Paul
Creighton School of Law Nebraska Counsel for Discipline McGrath North Mullin & Kratz 
The 8th annual Creighton School of Law and Omaha Bar Association seminar was held April 11 at Creighton’s Harper Center. Participants earned two Professional Responsibility CLEs. One participant tweeted during the seminar: “Lawyers shouldn’t lie cheat or steal. Seems about right.”
 NEI’s CFO Michelle Moore (left) and the company’s founders, President Kate Dodge and CEO Randy Wilson, have worked to make sure their company presents oppportunities for women.
– Photo courtesy of NEI Global Relocation
No Glass Ceiling at NEI Global Relocation
Firm to Be Honored by Baird Holm
For Efforts in Advancement of Women
By Julien R. Fielding
The Daily Record
In the last four decades, women have made significant strides in the workplace. More of them are entering it with university degrees, making them more likely to move into managerial positions and earn better wages. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “In 2011, women accounted for 51 percent of all persons employed in management, professional, and related occupations, somewhat more than their share of total employment [47 percent].” Click here for full story
 The cherry wood bench from the 1885 Douglas County Courthouse now graces the Ahmanson Law Center’s Doyle Appellate Courtroom of the Creighton University School of Law. For many, it represents the administration of justice and the memory of Omaha’s legal culture.
By Lorraine Boyd
The Daily Record
For the first time in nearly a decade, metro area judges and attorneys will hold a joint “bench bar” conference on Friday, May 9, at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Omaha.
“A true bench bar conference provides an unique opportunity for members of the bar and the judiciary to interact and receive valuable feedback from one another,” said Judge Francie Riedmann of the Nebraska Court of Appeals, 3rd Judicial District. She is one of the three co-chairs of the 2014 Metro Omaha Bench Bar Conference. The other chairs are Nebraska Court of Appeals Judges John Irwin and Michael Pirtle.
“The Metro Omaha Bench Bar Conference takes this opportunity one step further because it is a collaborative effort between the Omaha Bar and the Sarpy County Bar. Most of the proposed sessions include presenters from both Douglas and Sarpy counties, so participants will get useful information regardless of which court they appear in,” Riedmann said.
“We have received tremendous support from judges and attorneys in both counties while putting the agenda together and I think we have some really dynamic presenters.
“The task force did a great job coming up with an all-inclusive agenda, so there’s something for everyone, regardless of their area of practice.”
The annual Omaha Bar Association’s Law Day luncheon, traditionally held on May 1, will be held in conjunction with the conference this year. Those attending the conference will automatically have a reservation for the Law Day luncheon, which will feature speaker Hal Daub, former United States Congressman and former Mayor of Omaha.
For information on conference registration or luncheon registration, contact OBA Executive Director Dave Sommers at omahabarassociation@creighton.edu or 402-280-3607.
Nebraska Friends
of Foster Children (NFFC)
Presents
Uncorking Happiness:
A Fundraiser
For Foster Children
The event will include an assortment of
wines & hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction.
Thursday
April 24, 2014
5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Nosh Wine Lounge
1006 Dodge Street, Omaha
Tickets: $35 (Tax Deductible $25)
In Advance or At the Door
To purchase tickets in advance, email:
nffcevent@gmail.com
The benefit is made possible
with help from these sponsors:
Invision Eyecare
Scott & Lisa Seier
Dianne & John Scott
KVC Behavioral Health
Black Hills Energy
Tenaska Inc.
and
Deloitte & Touche, LLP
All proceeds will benefit NFFC.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…
Here are some of our recent articles. Click on "Click here" to access the entire article.
 Justin Wayne is not only a solo practitioner of law, he’s also in charge of the Omaha Public Schools Board of Directors, the Midwest Trailblazers, and participates in a number of charities.
Wayne Is Working for Change in Omaha
On Several Fronts: Law, Education, Sports By Andy Roberts
The Daily Record
It’s a Saturday afternoon, and this one finds Justin Wayne in a meeting with the Omaha Public Schools Steering Committee, planning potential new directions for the district’s children. He is currently serving as the OPS Board of Education president.
Or, depending on the season, football talent, working toward their dreams in the Midwest Trailblazers, the youth organization where he serves as president.
This wasn’t always the plan. Click here for full story Wayne's law firm website is justinwaynelaw.com.
 The Domestic Violence Council team has settled in to their new location at the Center Mall. From left, top: Michelle Patterson and Maureen Grace; seated: Tara Muir and Kim Carpenter.
While the Location Has Changed,
DVC’s Mission to Help Women Has Not
By Elizabeth Elliott
The Daily Record
If you, or someone you know, have become a human punching bag, there are places you can turn to get help and escape an abusive relationship. One such place is the Domestic Violence Council with its new office in the Center Mall.
While it does not provide direct services to victims, the DVC assists intervention agency partners to help victims stay safe. They have been helping the abused since 1996. Click here for full story
 Sabrina (Shaoqing Guo) gives a Chinese tea ceremony demonstration on campus on Jan. 31, 2014, as part of the “Master of Arts in East-West Studies program info session” and “Lunar New Year Celebration.”
Chinese Law Student’s Cultural Exchange
Is Win-Win for Creighton, China and Guo
By Julien R. Fielding
The Daily Record
Shaoqing Guo – who goes by Sabrina – will return to China at the beginning of April, after having spent a year as a visiting scholar at Creighton’s School of Law. Click here for full story To learn more about Creighton University’s Asian World Center, go to www.creighton.edu/ccas/asianworldcenter.
Guilfoyle Joins DAAKE as Senior Account Executive  DAAKE, an Omaha-area branding and design firm, recently announced the addition of Sean Guilfoyle as senior account executive. Guilfoyle is responsible for high-level client relations, strategic direction for accounts and identifying growth opportunities.
An Omaha native, Guilfoyle has more than fifteen years experience in the marketing and advertising industry, both working for and serving a range of regional and national clients including First National Bank, TD Ameritrade, the American Legion and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Guilfoyle is also an active volunteer in the Omaha community, having recently served on the committee to celebrate UNO’s 100th anniversary, in addition to his role as a coach for Keystone Little League and regularly assisting his son’s local Boy Scouts of America pack. For more information regarding Daake, please visit www.daake.com.
CCNEDC Appoints Scheve to Executive Director  Cass County Nebraska Economic Development Council (CCNEDC), a partner of the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership, has appointed Lisa Scheve as its next executive director. She will be responsible for the promotion of economic development activities in Cass County effective May 7.
Scheve holds a bachelor of science degree in public relations and advertising from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Prior to this appointment, Scheve served as director of the Yankton Convention and Visitors Bureau, president of Yankton RiverWalk, Inc., and communications coordinator at the Greater Omaha Chamber. She has worked on a number of initiatives to develop Yankton into one of the top tourist destinations in southeast South Dakota.
In her new position, Scheve will focus on retaining existing businesses, attracting new businesses, creating new jobs and expanding current business and industry in Cass County.
Scheve’s office will be located at the Plattsmouth Chamber of Commerce and with the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership staff located at the Greater Omaha Chamber.
 – Photo by Lorraine Boyd
Nebraska Supreme Court Justices, from left, are: Lindsey Miller-Lerman, Kenneth Stephan, John Wright, Chief Justice Michael Heavican, William Connolly, Michael McCormack, and William Cassel.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, All Rise The Nebraska Supreme Court heard oral arguments on several cases Thursday, April 3, at their annual visit to Creighton University’s School of Law. The venue affords students (and local attorneys) the opportunity to see attorneys argue before the high court. Several dozen people attended the morning event in the Gross Appellate Courtroom of the law school.
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