Travel Is One of The Reasons I Stay Active in the American Bar Association

I love to travel, and this compels me to stay active in the American Bar Association. Meetings at the ABA Mid-Year and Annual meetings, and other section and division meetings, give me reasons to travel that I might not otherwise do. I enjoy connecting with my ABA friends and former colleagues. I was an ABA staff member for 15 years. And I often include personal travel in these “work” trips. In 25 years as an attorney, I had work-related travel that touched 41 states and added visits to 7 other states onto those trips. The other two states I have visited on my own, to round out visiting all 50 (plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia). I have spent time in 17 other countries, only one of those for work.

In August of 2023, the ABA Annual Meeting was in Denver. I was two states short of having visited all 50, so I took a few vacation days, flew out early, rented a car, and did a driving tour of Wyoming and Idaho. As I entered Idaho, I checked the last state off the list. I don’t know when I would have made it to those last two, if not for the opportunity presented by attending the ABA Annual Meeting. I also spent an afternoon at the Denver Museum of Art, an amazing collection.

In February of 2024, shortly after I retired, the Mid-Year meeting was in Louisville, Kentucky. This was an opportunity for me to connect with my ABA friends and colleagues and to reconnect with my past. I went to Law School at the University of Louisville. The taxi from the airport passed by the apartment I had lived in during law school. It was good to see the resurgence in downtown that has taken place over the past 25 years.

I attended the 2024 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. Chicago is an old favorite for my spouse and I; we have attended a lot of conferences there. We have several friends who live in Chicago. We had dinner with a dear friend we had not seen in about a decade. We walked the Magnificent Mile along Michigan Avenue, and while I was taking part in Senior Lawyer Division meetings, my other half enjoyed the Art Institute of Chicago. It was a great trip to a fantastic city.

I went to first grade in Phoenix, Arizona, and have dear friends who live there. I was thrilled when I learned that the 2025 ABA Mid-Year meeting was in downtown Phoenix. The meeting was wonderful, and it was great to see my ABA friends. I had dinner with my last ABA manager, and lunch with two friends who live in the area. I visited a couple of art museums, one of them twice. Both friends that I was having lunch with wanted to visit the Heard Museum, an amazing collection of Native and Western art. I rode the Valley Metro light rail. I enjoy exploring public transit when I travel. I also took a ride in a WAYMO self-driving taxi. Phoenix is currently one of only three places in the country where this service is available. I have to say it was the safest taxi driver of the trip. I am always looking for a reason to visit the Valley of the Sun, and an ABA meeting was a perfect excuse to go.

Over the decades, a lot of work travel was all work. Fly out, check into a hotel, go to a meeting or speak, head back to the airport, and fly home. Whenever I could, I would add a day at the beginning or end of the trip. On one trip before my ABA days, I insisted that I needed a day to adjust after traveling from the Midwest to Alaska. On my rest day, I took a float plane tour to Denali that included landing on a glacial melt lake. I only had a few free hours, and I made the most of them. I am able to make attending ABA meetings the perfect blend of attending to important ABA work and enjoying the venue. Often, I spend as much time exploring as I do in meetings.

I am very much looking forward to this Augusts’ ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto. I have been there twice for work, without much time to explore. With senior status, I will arrange a little more time to see this amazing city. I am hoping my dear friend Laura is in town that week so we can meet for dinner or a glass of champagne.

Beyond ABA Mid-year and Annual, there are many other ABA meetings and conferences in the United States and around the world. To get the most out of ABA membership, become active in a committee or leadership of the ABA groups in your areas of interest. If you are reading this, you are most likely a member of the Senior Lawyers Division - and if you are not and you are an ABA member, all you need to do is ask to join (no extra cost). Many entities are looking for volunteers to serve on committees, to write, to present CLE programs, to consider policy, to develop centers of expertise and resources for many practice areas. Because there are so  many committees, you will find that if you show up for a couple of meetings, you will be a member of the committee even if you don’t volunteer.

I love to travel, and being active in the ABA justifies at least a couple of trips per year.