annual meeting has new look: high-profile speakers, lawyers, families will rub elbows at orlando
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Annual Meeting Has New Look: High-profile speakers, lawyers, families will rub elbows atOrlandoAuthor(s): PATRICIA GALLAGHERSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 82, No. 7 (JULY 1996), p. 93Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27837767 .
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YOUR ABA
Annual Meeting Has New Look
High-profile speakers, lawyers, families will rub elbows at Orlando
BY PATRICIA GALLAGHER
The official theme of the 1996
ABA Annual Meeting is "Free dom, Justice, Liberty. Without Law yers, They're Only Words." An
equally applicable theme might be: "Cochran, Siskel, Mickey Mouse. It's
Not Your Father's Annual Meeting." With high-profile speakers and
new programs, the Annual Meeting Planning Committee has remade the event to unite families, invigorate practices and inspire rededication to the ideals of the legal profession.
"[ABA President Roberta Coop er Ramo] felt the annual meeting was not all that it could be," says Kenneth Young, a Greenville, S.C., lawyer and committee co-chair. "She wanted to create a feeling that
you really can't afford to miss this." Toward that end, the Aug. 1-7
meeting in Orlando, Fla., will in clude speakers such as U.S. Attor ney General Janet Reno; Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens; Madeleine K. Albright, the U.S. per manent representative to the Unit ed Nations; zoologist Jane Goodall; lawyer Johnnie Cochran; and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
The biggest draw? "It's a toss up between a Supreme Court justice and [film critic] Gene Siskel," says Elaine Weiss, an ABA associate ex ecutive director who chaired the
planning committee with Young. Also lined up are:
A mock trial of Jesse James and a re-enactment of the infamous 1921 Sacco and Vanzetti case.
"The Greatest Law School Lectures You Never Heard," featur
ing Alex Sanders, president of the
College of Charleston, and lawyers Michael Tigar and Jesse McCrary. That program and others are de
signed as a "reaffirmation for law yers who have lost some of their fer vor," Young says.
A family focus that includes a
day of sessions on legal issues in
volving children, a 5-kilometer race and fun walk, a child-care program, and discounts on Disney attractiop^
Patricia Gallagher i? a free lance writer based in Chicago.
The first casual attire theme. "Leave your ties, high heels and
stockings at home," Ramo said in her May President's Message.
This year's innovations include
designating programs by one of three tracks?solo/small-firm, cor
porate counsel and technology? and by section, compiling an insid er's guide for first-time attendees,
Attorney General Janet Reno Justice John Paul Stevens Attorney Johnnie Cochran
running shuttles, and posting meet
ing information on the Internet (at http://www.abanet.org).
However, hotels are more wide
ly dispersed than in the past. Al
though meetings will be concentrat ed at the headquarters Walt Disney
World Dolphin hotel and the adja cent Swan, trips to far-flung hotels outside Disney World can take as
long as an hour by shuttle. With more than 2,500 different
programs in a single week, ABA an nual meetings can overwhelm first timers. "A lot of people were going
to [their first] annual meetings and not coming back," Young says.
The planning committee also had to dodge politics as it lined up speakers and programs, he says. In a presidential election year?and considering the Republicans and the Democrats will stage their na tional conventions in August?the committee took pains to avoid any
hint of partisanship. By early May, efforts to make
the 118th annual meeting one with many firsts appeared to be success ful. Member registration stood at
2,772, about 18 percent ahead of the tally on the same date a year ago, with nearly 3,400 more family members signed up.
Advance registration closes at 5 p.m. (CDT) July 10. On-site regis tration begins Aug. 1, at the Walt
Disney World Dolphin hotel. Call (312) 988-5870 for more informa tion or a registration form.
Also on the Menu_ Disney isn't the only game in?or near?Orlando.
Cypress Gardens features synchronized swimmers, ice shows and water
skiing spectaculars in addition to its botanical wonders. Busch Gardens is a wildlife and amusement park with African- and Egyp
tian-themed areas and thrill rides (about an hour's drive). Kenned^ Space Center has tours, imax movies and the Gallery of Manned
Spaceflight (about an hour's drive). Universal Studios Florida lets visitors "ride the movies" with attractions
such as Jaws and Kongfrontation. Terminator 2:3D opens this summer. 32 million square feet of retail space, including five malls and a factory
outlet center. Disney itself offers 41 Magic Kingdom adventures, 11 countries at Epcot, 135
acres of fun at Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, and three water parks.
ABAJ/ROY KARTEN. AB*/RICHARD SHAY< AND LEROY HAMILTON ABA JOURNAL / JULY 1996 93
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