Complex Issues in Juvenile Court Practice XVII

Creighton University
Mike and Josie Harper Center
Hixson-Lied Auditorium
602 N 20th St
Omaha, NE 68102

or Online 

Conference links to be sent a week prior to the event.

Parking is available on the roof of the 20th Street parking garage (Lot G5) south of the Harper Center, surface parking (Lot 5A) south of the Harper Center, and any available street parking as space allows. Click here to view the parking map.

$100

Now in its 17th year, this seminar addresses some of the complex areas of juvenile court practice. This year’s seminar will continue to focus upon improving litigation skills for practitioners in juvenile court, including aspects of civil procedure, and motion practice and immigration issues. The seminar will feature a presentation by Kirk A.B. Newring, PhD on competency evaluations of both juveniles and parents in juvenile court proceedings. We are also pleased to have a special presentation by John Brazda, Director of the Victim Assistance Unit for the Douglas County Attorney’s Office, along with his service dog, “Laramie,” who has helped calm victims and others who testify in court proceedings.

Upon registering, attendees will also receive a link to order a copy of Juvenile Court Law and Practice (Thomson-Reuters Pub., 20th Ed., 2025-2026) by Christine P. Costantakos, at a special discounted rate. 

Lawyers, Law Students, Juvenile Justice and Child Advocates

• Guardian ad Litem Project, Inc.
• Creighton University School of Law
• Creighton University College of Professional and Continuing Education

Friday, November 14, 2025

All times listed are in Central Time (CT).

8:15 a.m.
Registration

8:40 a.m.
Welcome
Craig Dallon
Associate Dean
Creighton University School of Law

8:45 a.m.
Comptencies in Juvenile and Family Court Arenas
Kirk A.B. Newring, PhD

9:45 a.m.
Caselaw and Statutory Update
Compiled by B. Gail Steen, JD
Presented by Elizabeth McClelland, JD and Mary Pat Coe, JD

10:15 a.m.
Break

10:30 a.m.
FCRO: 43 Years of Oversight, Advocacy, and (Not Boring) Data
Monika Gross, Executive Director
Jennifer Jolley, System Oversight Specialist
Heather Wood, Research Director

11 a.m.
Ethics: Duty of Zealous Representation: Using Civil Procedure & Rules of Evidence in Juvenile Cases - Part 2
Chris Costantakos, JD

Noon
Lunch Provided

12:30 p.m.
"Laramie:" The Facility Dog in the County Attorney's Office
John Brazda
Director, Omaha/Douglas County Victim Assistance Unit
Douglas County Attorney's Office

1:30p.m.
Education as Advocacy: Expanding Futures for Justice-Involved Youth Through GED Access
Deana Agarwal, PhD
Director of Adult Education
Metropolitan Community College

2 p.m.
Break

2:15 p.m.
Motion Practice: Recusing the Judge, TRO's and Other Woes
Chris Costantakos, JD

3:15 p.m.
Juveniles with No Immigration Status: Questions, Options, and Difficulties
Nathan Dallon, JD

4:15 p.m.
Adjournment

Deana Agarwal, PhD, is the Director of Adult Education at Metropolitan Community College, a role she has held for the past 2.5 years. She has been part of MCC’s Adult Education program since 2018, bringing extensive experience in supporting adult learners. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Higher Education from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Dr. Agarwal is passionate about advancing opportunities for learners, believing that pathways such as GED and English language acquisition are powerful tools for equitable access and opportunity. She has also conducted research with MCC students, adding firsthand perspectives on the adult learner experience.

John Brazda is the Director of the Victim Assistance Unit for the Douglas County Attorney’s Office. He has been with the Douglas County Attorney’s Office since December 2020. Previously he worked law enforcement for over 26 years, working in Uniformed Patrol, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, Narcotics Detective and Sergeant, SWAT Tactical Commander and as a Task Force Sergeant for the Safe Streets Task Force of the FBI. Currently he oversees and supervises the staff of victim advocates and clerical staff within the Victim Assistance Unit. John is a member of the Crime Victim Reparations Board for the State of Nebraska and the Douglas County Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Response Team. John has been on a statewide training team who provided training to law enforcement, prosecution, probation officers, child protective caseworkers, medical personnel and 911 dispatchers around the area of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“Laramie,” is a newly-certified facility dog, just placed with her handler, John Brazda to work at the Douglas County Attorney’s Office. She is a three-year-old Lab/Retriever mix. Canine Companions bred, trained and maintains ownership of Laramie until she retires. Laramie understands approximately 38 different commands and she is worth approximately $50,000. Laramie is a focused, chill facility dog while at work, who has the ability to calm people with just her loving personality and soft demeanor. When she is “off-duty”, Laramie loves to run, play with her canine brothers (Trio and Raider) and snuggle.

Monika Gross has served as the Executive Director of the Foster Care Review Office for the State of Nebraska since May 2020. She has extensive experience working in Nebraska’s child welfare system. Before serving as the FCRO Executive Director she served as in-house legal counsel for Nebraska Families Collaborative/PromiseShip, an Omaha area child welfare nonprofit, for nine years. She spent eight years as a staff attorney for the Department of Health and Human Services, providing legal support to caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators in the Central Service Area of Nebraska. Monika has exceptional knowledge and a strong passion for and commitment to improving conditions for Nebraska’s children in out-of-home care. Monika earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law.  She is licensed to practice law in Georgia and Nebraska, is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Nebraska State Bar Association, and is a fellow of the Nebraska State Bar Foundation.

Jennifer Jolley currently serves as a System Oversight Specialist for the Foster Care Review Office (FCRO), a position she has held for nearly 17 years. Her responsibilities include supervising/facilitating three local review boards (comprised of citizen volunteers), reviewing cases of children in the foster care system, making recommendations to the Courts and other legal parties, entering data for each child, participating in additional case advocacy and collaborating with various system partners. 

Prior to this position, Jennifer was a Protection and Safety Worker/Juvenile Services Officer with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services for eight years, with a focus on serving youth that entered the system due to delinquency matters or status offenses. Jennifer started her work in the child welfare field in 1998 working as direct care staff and team lead at a group home serving boys and girls, ages 13-18, placed by the Courts. Jennifer earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in 1996.

Kirk A.B. Newring, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist in the states of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Washington, and New Mexico, and maintains an interjurisdictional credential that allows for the practice of telepsychology to about 45 states.  Prior to opening his private practice in Papillion in 2009, he worked for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, and before that, the State of Washington's Department of Social and Health Services.  He has been an instructor at Nebraska Wesleyan and the Creighton School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, providing instruction on a variety of topics related to forensic behavioral health, including assessment of competency, risk assessment, and expert witness testimony.  Dr. Newring has contributed to the field with a number of publications, and has presented at local, national, and international conferences and continuing education events.  He is a frequent contributor to the docket for the Nebraska Court of Appeals, having testified in more than 110 cases in Nebraska.  He has also provided expert witness testimony in federal courts in Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, including courts martial, South Dakota, and was the plaintiff's expert witness in New Mexico's largest ever financial verdict in a Title IX teacher sexual abuse case.  When not in prison, the office, or the courthouse he can probably be found on a softball field, having earned the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 2023. Dr. Newring also volunteers as an English-language learning mentor for Ukrainian citizens working on their English-speaking skills through Balakun.org. 

Heather Wood currently serves as the Research Director at the Foster Care Review Office (FCRO); an independent state agency where staff track children and youth in out-of-home care across the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, review case records for purposes of advocacy and making recommendations to the courts, and to collect data related to placements and outcomes while in out-of-home care. Heather oversees data analysis and leads the team responsible for reporting to the legislature, system partners, and the public on the outcomes and needs for improvement in the care of system-involved children and youth across the state of Nebraska. 

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Attorneys

Mary Pat Coe, JD, a member of the Guardian ad Litem Project, Inc., graduated from Creighton University School of Law in 1993.  Before coming to the Court Improvement Project, Mary Pat practiced in the area of juvenile law for more than 18 years, representing parents and other family members in neglect/abuse proceedings and youth in delinquency/status offense matters.  She also served as a guardian ad litem for both parents and children in dependency proceedings.  In her current role as a member of the Court Improvement Project, Mary Pat continues to advocate for children, families and youth by looking at ways to improve the juvenile justice system through the continued education of its stakeholders.  

Chris Costantakos, JD, a member of the Guardian ad Litem Project, Inc., and a Creighton Law graduate, has practiced extensively in the area of juvenile court law for over 30 years. She is the author of Juvenile Court Law and Practice, a Nebraska practice manual published by Thomson-Reuters, now in its 20th edition. A member of the Nebraska Supreme Court Commission on Children in the Courts, she co-chairs its Guardian ad Litem Subcommittee. She received the “Shining Light Award” from the Nebraska State Bar Foundation in 2013 for excellence in legal research for her book. 

Nathan Dallon, JD, is the founding partner of Hatch & Dallon, LLC, an Omaha law firm with expertise in the areas of immigration law, criminal defense, juvenile law, and tribal law.  Nathan has worked as an immigration attorney since 2014 when he graduated from Creighton Law School.  He handles a wide variety of immigration cases.  He is fluent in spoken and written Spanish. Nathan clerked at the Douglas County Attorney’s Office from 2012-2014, felony division. He is married, the father of 4, and an avid reader of books.

Elizabeth McClelland, JD, a member of the Guardian ad Litem Project, Inc., is currently employed with the Education Rights Counsel (ERC) as lead juvenile attorney, while also maintaining a small guardian ad litem caseload in the Separate Juvenile Court of Douglas County. Elizabeth is also a licensed mediator for child welfare and family law cases. During her free time, she loves to spend time with her four kids and husband, loves running, and the Food Network. Elizabeth is a graduate of UNL College of Law - GO HUSKERS!!

B. Gail Steen, JD, graduated from UNL College of Law in 1992, and has been causing problems since. Her reign of annoying began at Legal Aid in the Norfolk office, which granted her seniority status over Jeff Wagner, later transferring to Omaha in 1995. In 2000, she joined the Nebraska Dept. of Health and Human Services Legal Department, Protection and Safety Division, to begin annoying the whole state. In 2008, Ms. Steen entered private practice.  She is on the Governor’s Commission for the Protection of Children, and is a member of the Lincoln Bar Association. She likes to garden, drink fine and not-so-fine wine, think deeply about the law, and travel. (Because she brings candy, we let her present at this seminar.)

Office of Continuing Education
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Creighton University
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