The Nebraska State Bar Association (NSBA) has awarded its 2023 Robert M. Spire Award to Kutak Rock partner Amy L. Van Horne for her commitment to pro bono service in Nebraska. After serving several three-year terms on the board of directors at Legal Aid of Nebraska, she became president of the board in 2021. She also serves as a regular volunteer for the NSBA’s Tenant Assistance Project in Douglas County.
Ms. Van Horne focuses her practice on mediation and arbitration. She was the first female in Nebraska to be accepted into the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and also into the American College of Civil Trial Mediators.
The Robert M. Spire award is given annually to a Nebraska lawyer who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to pro bono service for the poor, as was the hallmark of Robert M. Spire. The award will be presented April 15 at the 2023 Barristers’ Ball in La Vista, Nebraska. The Ball is a benefit for the Nebraska Lawyers Foundation, which supports the Volunteer Lawyers Program, the Nebraska Lawyers Assistance Program, the LSAT Prep Scholarship Program and the Rural Practice Initiative.
“Kutak Rock has a long tradition, dating to its founding in 1965, of service to the bar and to the communities in which we’re located,” said John Petr, Chair of Kutak Rock. “Amy exemplifies that commitment to service, and this recognition is well deserved. All of us at the firm are proud of and grateful to Amy for her selfless support of access to justice for all in Nebraska.”
“I’m humbled to have been selected as this year’s recipient of the Robert M. Spire Pro Bono Award; integrating pro bono into my practice is rewarding both personally and professionally,” said Ms. Van Horne. “All of us at Kutak Rock feel the responsibility given to us by our founders Bob Kutak and Harold Rock, the latter of whom posthumously received this award in 2019. A commitment to public service was part of the firm’s founding ethos. I’d like to think both men would be proud that their legacies of service are still being carried on today.”