What can we expect from the all-virtual 2020 ABA Annual Meeting?

When COVID-19 closed ABA offices in March, staff sprang into work figuring out how the association could convert its meetings and events to virtual environments. In this bonus episode of Asked and Answered, we’re giving you a sneak peek at how the 2020 ABA Annual Meeting came together, some of the exciting guests and speakers who have been lined up, and what exactly it will be like to attend an all-virtual meeting.

ABA President Judy Perry Martinez and Marty Balogh of the Meetings and Travel Group spoke with the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles to share behind-the-scenes information about the annual meeting, which is free to all ABA members. Find out more at ambar.org/annual. Register before July 27, then attend sessions and events at your leisure from July 29 to Aug. 4.

In This Podcast

Marty Balogh

Marty Balogh is the associate executive director of the ABA Meetings & Travel Group. He began his ABA career as a temp employee in 1978 and officially joined staff on October 1, 1979. Under Balogh’s leadership, Meetings & Travel has been responsible for the sourcing and contracting of over 300 meetings annually, the overall logistics for the Midyear and Annual Meetings, the ABA travel programs, and the Chicago office in-house meeting operations. In 2017, he was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Professional Convention Management Association, the world’s largest, most respected, and most recognized network of business events strategists. Balogh is retiring, and his last day will be the last day of the 2020 Annual Meeting.

Judy Perry Martinez

Judy Perry Martinez of Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn in New Orleans became president of the American Bar Association in August 2019. Martinez has held various leadership positions at the ABA, including as chair of the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which evaluates all prospective nominees to the federal bench. Earlier, she served as the ABA’s lead representative to the United Nations and as a member of the ABA Board of Governors and its executive committee. Later, she served as chair of the ABA Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services and, most recently, as a member of the ABA Task Force on Building Public Trust in the American Justice System. Martinez has served 26 years in the ABA House of Delegates and served on the ABA Task Force on Attorney Client Privilege, the Council of the ABA Center on Diversity, and the council of the Section of Litigation. She also was a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and chair of the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence and the ABA Young Lawyers Division. Her term as president will conclude at the end of the 2020 ABA Annual Meeting.