Nebraska State Bar Association and Legal Aid stop in North Platte during summer tour

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - The Nebraska State Bar Association, in partnership with Legal Aid of Nebraska, stopped in North Platte Wednesday evening for a networking event and to commemorate NSBA’s 60th anniversary.

They joined other attorneys and judges from the region at North 40 Chophouse as part of their summer tour.

“We are celebrating two monumental anniversaries. The first is the 60th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright which is the landmark case that provided for court-appointed counsel in criminal cases, so, for criminal defendants particularly those who can’t afford an attorney,” said Laurie Heer Dale, the Executive Director of Legal Aid.

Shortly after the summer tour concludes, the Nebraska State Bar Association will welcome a new executive director and for the first time in decades, that individual will be a North Platte resident.

“I don’t think there has been a president of our state bar association in my lifetime from North Platte so this is kind of a big deal that we have somebody from North Platte taking over the bar association,” said Jason Grams, president of the Nebraska State Bar Association.

“They appreciate the fact that we’ve got somebody from our neck of the woods involved in bar leadership and we have not had a lot of those folks from here over the years. I think the last Nebraska State Bar Association president from North Platte was maybe before I was born and I’m 70 years old plus,” said North Platte Attorney Mike McCarthy, President-Elect of the Nebraska State Bar Association.

McCarthy will take over as president of Nebraska’s Bar Association in October.

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