About Mary Kay
Mary Kay Hansen took a conventional path into law after an early grounding in education and social science. She earned a B.A. in Social Science and Education from Wayne State College in 1978 and later completed her J.D. at the University of Mississippi. Those schoolrooms and law classrooms shaped an interest in how families and institutions resolve conflict.
Her professional affiliations trace a steady engagement with Nebraska’s legal and dispute-resolution communities. Hansen is active in the Nebraska State Bar Association and holds membership in NOSSCR. She also participates in local organizations, including the Lancaster County Bar Association. Over the years she has stayed connected to regional mediation groups as well, joining both the Nebraska Mediation Association and the Heartland Mediation Association.
Mediation and alternative dispute resolution became central to her work. She is certified by the Nebraska Office of Dispute Resolution as a Special Alternative Dispute Resolution (SADR) mediator and as a Parenting Plan Mediator. In Nebraska she serves as a Parenting Act Mediator and handles specialized alternative dispute resolution in high-conflict matters. In 2017 she joined the Nebraska Supreme Court’s Dispute Resolution Advisory Council, a role that put her in conversation with the state’s broader efforts to shape mediation standards and processes.
Colleagues describe her approach as pragmatic. She conducts pre-mediation intake, frames parenting-plan talks, and oversees sessions intended to reduce courtroom time. Her practice draws on the procedural rules and certification standards that govern mediators in Nebraska. That includes obligations to remain impartial and to document agreements in ways that can be folded into court orders if parties choose that route.
Hansen practices through Mary Kay Hansen Law & Mediation. She works with parents, individuals, and attorneys who bring disputes looking for resolution outside of litigation. She continues to take part in bar and mediation association events and in advisory work related to the state’s dispute-resolution system. She currently practices mediation and dispute resolution.
