Former York County District Judge Alan Gless remembered

YORK – York County District Judge Alan Gless, who served District 5 and York County for many years, having a great impact on the local and statewide judicial system, recently passed away at the age of 74 and is remembered for his dedication.

He was born in 1950, a native of Schuyler, where he attended high school and graduated as valedictorian. He pursued his passion for education and music, participating in the Cornhusker Marching Band, graduating with honors from the University of Nebraska, and then going on to complete his degree in law in 1975, setting the state for a successful career as a county and district judge.
He began his career in private practice in Osceola, in 1975.
Between 1977 and 1980, he was the city attorney for Osceola and in the years of 1979 and 1980, he served as the county attorney in Polk County.
He became a county court judge for the Fifth Judicial District (serving York, Seward, Boone, Butler, Colfax, Hamilton, Merrick, Nance, Platte, Polk and Saunders Counties) in 1980.
Then in 1995, he became a district court judge, also for the Fifth Judicial District. He was the York County District Judge during that time. He retired from the bench in 2013.
Under the auspices of the Nebraska State Bar Association, Judge Gless served on the Judicial Structure and Administration Task Force, the Committee on Ethics and the Committee on Procedure.
He also served on the Nebraska State Bar Foundation’s Ethics and Professionalism Committee and the Grants and Research Committee.
Judge Gless was a member of several Nebraska Supreme Court Committees, including the Maintaining, Revising and Updating Nebraska Trial Court Child Support Calculation Program; the Committee on Practice and Procedure; the Nebraska Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee; the drafting sub-committee for the New Nebraska Code of Judicial Conduct; the Nebraska Judicial Ethics Committee; the Indigent Defense Task Force; the Subcommittee on Court Interactions; the Nebraska Supreme Court Task Force on Gender Fairness; the Joint NSBA/NCJA Nebraska Juvenile Code Revision Committee; the National Judicial College Advisory Committee; the Judicial Discipline Commission Curriculum Development Project; the Center for Judicial Conduct Organizations Advisory Committee; and the American Judicature Society Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee.
Within the Nebraska District Judges Association, Judge Gless served on the Bench-book Committee, the Judicial Education Committee; the Child Support Guidelines Committee; and the Government and Public Relations Committee.
Judge Gless was also the author of numerous published works regarding law – including as a volume editor and contributing chapter author for “The History of Nebraska Law,” which was published in 2008. He had a true passion for writing about matters of law and legal history.
He was a guest lecturer for numerous seminars at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and had been a presiding judge for the NSBA High School Mock Trial Project.
Judge Gless is well known to many for his work on the bench, but many also remember his work behind the scenes as he served as a mentor for youth considering careers in the legal profession, young attorneys fresh to the field and journalists starting their endeavors in covering court-related matters. For those individuals, he was a critical figure in their additional education, beyond institutional experience, as he was dedicated to sharing his knowledge of the law.