Visionary Awards
The Nebraska State Bar Association Visionary Awards are presented to outstanding attorneys for their service to further the mission of the NSBA or their dedication to programs sponsored by the Nebraska Lawyers Foundation. Up to three Visionary Awards are awarded annually. The 2023 Visionary Award winners are Melodie Bellamy, Ross Pesek, and Ryan Swaroff. See below for their bios. Past Visionary award winners are listed at the bottom of the page.
Melodie T. Bellamy, Minden
Melodie Bellamy of Minden is a 2023 Visionary Award Winner. Bellamy serves as the County Attorney for Kearney County and Deputy County Attorney in Harlan County. In addition to her public service, Bellamy has ran her own law firm, Bellamy Law, for over two decades where she practices in a wide range of areas, but specializes in appellate research and writing for other attorneys. Bellamy has also found time to volunteer at the Buffalo County Self-Help Center since 2011 and now acts as Facilitator and volunteer. In her role as the Self-Help Center Facilitator, Bellamy recruits volunteer attorneys in the region to come and answer questions at the courthouse Self-Help Center. She also makes sure that the center has all the forms and supplies it needs to function each month and coordinates with the Nebraska State Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project to ensure the administrative side of the Self-Help Center is in order. She also volunteers helping low-income clients with their legal questions. Bellamy is an asset to the community and works tirelessly towards ensuring access to justice for all.
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Ross R. Pesek, Omaha
Ross is extremely passionate about ensuring access to justice for all, while working to enhance the legal profession. His firm, Pesek Law, makes their community impact in three ways: Weekly Free Legal Clinics, True Potential Scholarships, and the South Omaha Business Improvement District. The Free Legal Clinic has helped thousands of people since the beginning of 2011. Clinic volunteers are Spanish-English bilingual which allows them to assist individuals who are critically underserved. The True Potential Scholarship has provided more than 150 full tuition scholarships to immigrants to attend community college in Nebraska and Iowa. The scholarship was originally founded for DACA “Dreamers” but has expanded to include all immigrants who want to study but are not eligible for public benefits. The South Omaha Business Improvement District creates community gardens, enhancing civic pride for all South Omaha residents. Finally, Ross has been a leader in forming trial and litigation strategies for Spanish speaking immigrants by disclosing to the jury his client’s immigration status and challenging Nebraska juries to set aside bias and prejudice and deliver on Nebraska’s state motto of Equality Before the Law. Today, Pesek Law has multiple bilingual attorneys and a completely bilingual team to pursue jury rights for Spanish speakers, because jury rights are civil rights.
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Ryan M. Swaroff, Lincoln
Ryan Swaroff spent the first ten years of her career as a Deputy County Attorney in York and Lancaster Counties and then at the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office. In these roles, she helped protect and promote the administration of justice. After her role as a prosecutor, she opened her own law firm in Lincoln where she integrated pro bono and public interest broadly from the very start. Swaroff recognized the community need for more attorneys practicing in mental health adjacent legal specialties and tailored her practice to meet that need.
Swaroff constantly thinks about what she needs to do as a private attorney to make the legal profession better for the Nebraskans who have faced difficult life circumstances individually and systemically. Swaroff has attended free legal clinics with VLP and helped create videos to promote the work of the Volunteer Lawyers Project. Most notably, Swaroff’s history of accepting particularly terrible domestic violence cases with the ugliest fact patterns and the shortest deadlines as pro bono cases is especially commendable. Swaroff recently joined Rembolt Ludtke, where she is continuing her family law practice, as well as her commitment to pro bono service. |
Past Visionary Award Winners
2022 Tana M. Fye
Catherine "Kate" M. Mahern Ryan J. Stover 2021 Frederick "Fritz" Bartell Mindy Rush-Chipman 2020 Ann Mangiameli Paul W. Snyder Karine Sokpoh 2019 Molly Brummond Terry Grennan Todd Richardson 2018 Ryan Sullivan Jennifer Kearney Brouillette, Dugan & Troshynski Vertical Divider
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2017 Stacy C. Bach
Marsha E. Fangmeyer Steven H. Howard Muirne Heaney 2016 Karisa D. Johnson Omaha Bar Association 2015 Senator Danielle M. Conrad Michael F. Kinney 2014 Fitzgerald Vetter & Temple Michelle M. Mitchell Mark Jacobs 2013 Michael T. Brogan Kim M. Seacrest Margaret M. Zarbano 2012 James E. Schneider Jackson Lewis, LLP 2011 Kutak Rock, LLP Larry W. Beucke |