Pictures provided by Donahue & Sisco
The 2025 yearbook class is working on a project this semester featuring our local businesses. I was offered the opportunity to interview Emily Sisco at Donahue & Sisco, located in Pawnee City, NE. Throughout the interview, I asked Emily a variety of questions. Here is what I found out:
The business was started by founding member John Charles Dort in 1895 in Burchard. After many years, many new partners, and various locations, the business was rebranded as Donahue & Sisco in 2017.
They rarely get new clients; many are repeat customers across generations of families. The active clients they see regularly are roughly in the hundreds, though this varies by time of year.
Once Emily graduated, she went straight into the practice of law and replaced Vic Faeser. He was there since the 70s and retired in 2017. This was her first job, and she has been a lawyer for 9 years.
The biggest change since she has been there is that everything is now done electronically; they don't want paper for anything—the courts, the filing, the tax returns, and being paid.
I asked if there was anything else Emily would like to share. She said that if any high school kids are interested in becoming lawyers, they have a program like RHOP (Rural Health Opportunity Program). They call it RLOP (Rural Law Opportunities Program), where you can get your undergrad paid for and then your law school paid for if you promise to come back to a rural community, and Pawnee City qualifies. The participating colleges are Wayne, Kearney, and Chadron. You'll go for your four years there, get it paid for, and then you go to the UNL College of Law to finish earning your degree.
If you have any more interest in the history and the background, they have a website called Donahue & Sisco, P.C., L.L.O.
Thank you to Emily Sisco for taking the time to sit down for an interview with us!