Nancy Ver Steegh, a family law professor at Mitchell Hamline Law School, former National President of the AFCC and strong Minnesota Chapter supporter was awarded the Stanley Cohen Distinguished Research Award yesterday for her decades of scholarship in the area of family law. Congratulations Nancy!
Ver Steegh is an expert on addressing intimate family violence in family court. She co-authored with Clare Dalton the Wingspread Conference on Domestic Violence and Family Courts in 2008 which advanced our understanding the differentiation of the types of domestic abuse which occurs in families, and how each type affects decisions including impact on children and safety to family members. On a personal note, this article was a paradigm shift for me about how I analyze domestic violence in families.
Ver Steegh’s work often involves collaboration with others, including Gabrielle Davis whom she publicly acknowledged while accepting the award. Those articles have included topics such as triaging and screening cases involving intimate violence, assessing risks to victims, creating frameworks for when to use mediation in such cases and determining child support where intimate violence is involved in parenting time initiatives.
Ver Steegh’s work is not limited to intimate family violence. She has written about family court processes, informed decision making about divorce, and use of mediation in family court.
I have had the privilege of working with Nancy on issues over the years. She is a veritable encyclopedia: if I ask her a question, along with her answer I get copies of various law review articles supporting her position. When I have worked with her to try and attack a problem in family court, I recall time and time again how she contributed due to her understanding of the family court processes and the need for a party’s autonomy to be preserved in those processes. Nancy is a treasure for us in Minnesota, and we have shared her with the rest of the world. This award is well-deserved.
James Street
Referee of District Court
Second Judicial District