ABA’s Midyear Meeting Brings People and Programs to Los Angeles

CHICAGO, Feb. 6, 2008 – The American Bar Association’s sixty-ninth Midyear Meeting brings more than 3,000 legal professionals and their families to Los Angeles, February 6 – 12.

Although the size of the Midyear Meeting does not match that of the Annual Meeting, the volume of business that is transacted does. The 554-member House of Delegates will convene at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in the Los Angeles Ballroom, California Level, from 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11. The deliberative session includes members from state and local bar associations around the country, ABA affiliates and ABA entities.  The session marks the finale of the ABA Midyear Meeting in Los Angeles.

Members and invited speakers, along with their spouses and families, will stay at eight hotels throughout the city.  More than 7,800 room nights have been booked through the ABA’s travel agent, Experient.

Headquarters for the meeting is the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.  Registration on the California Level will be open daily, beginning at 8 a.m. on Feb. 7.

During the Midyear Meeting, members will attend more than 800 sessions and events taking place in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel and at various hotels, restaurants, museums, clubs, law firms and other locations.  Information on programs, 27 of which will be certified for continuing legal education credit, and the names of more than 100 speakers are listed in the Midyear Meeting program book, which will be distributed on site.  It is also available online at http://www.abanet.org/midyear/2008/docs/ABA_Midyear_2008.pdf.

Approximately 40 percent of the events listed in the program book are meal functions. Oversupplies of food will be donated to Angel Harvest, non-profit food distribution system serving Los Angeles County.

The ABA is committed to working to reduce the impact of its meetings on the environment. To accomplish this goal, the ABA has a number of initiatives, including:

• Water stations, in lieu of bottled water, in the meeting areas
• Collection and storage of any unused/excess printed material for future events. Unusable materials will be recycled.
• Collection boxes so that plastic name badge holders can be reused or recycled.
• Selection of a printing partner who shares the ABA’s commitment to protecting the environment by using soy-based inks and water based coatings, recycling plates and paper waste, using alcohol-free chemicals on press, and offering recycled paper products.

Accredited reporters are welcome to attend and cover all sessions for free.  A press room for working journalists is set up at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in the California Showroom, California Level, and will remain open for on-site media registration daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.  The press room will close one hour after the adjournment of the ABA House of Delegates.  For more information, please contact 312/988-6171, or 310/551-7569 Feb. 6 – 11. Credential guidelines are at www.abanow.org.

With more than 413,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.