2010 ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco

As the incoming Law Student Division (LSD) Liaison to the Intellectual Property Law (IPL) Section of the ABA, my first order of business was to attend the 2010 ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Every where I walked in San Francisco was filled with attorneys wearing their ABA badges, carrying their ABA tote bags. The city had such an exciting vibe because everyone at the Meeting was ready to meet fellow attorneys and law students. Strangers would strike up conversation in line at the Starbucks next to the convention center and everyone with the LexisNexis lanyards around their necks would smile at each other on the street.

TV screens in the hotel displayed the events of each day

Likewise, the ABA-IPL welcomed me with open arms. I was given tickets to all events, luncheons and even the big Section Celebration. I was also invited to sit on their Membership Board and their Young Lawyers & Law Students Board. I even attended the Section Council meeting and chatted with a Division Chair.

This was my first time experiencing the ABA in action, and it was delightful!

As a law student, I was amazed by the networking opportunities available to me. Every CLE event, every luncheon and every elevator ride was a networking opportunity. The attorneys were excited to have a law student around, and many were more than willing to help out a law student in any way that they could.

Aside from my wonderful ABA-IPL colleagues, one of the highlights of the Meeting was the Section Celebration. The ABA-IPL Staff did a fantastic job putting the event together. It was held at a restaurant several blocks from the Section's hotel, where we dined, drank and chatted until our hearts content. And then we sang karaoke! It was so much fun to see everyone let loose and enjoy themselves. I'm sure the restaurant hosting us had no idea that a group of Intellectual Property attorneys could be so much fun.

Room where the Section Council was held

I look forward to the coming year and I am grateful to be representing the interests of law students to the Intellectual Property Law Section of the ABA. I hope to provide the Section with insight about what we law students want in a bar association/section, and how to best reach out to us. I am thankful for the guidance of ABA-IPL staff members Amy Mandel and Leah Richards, who helped make my Meeting experience one to remember, and to the outgoing ABA-IPL Law Student Liaison, Angela Morrison, for sharing her experience as Liaison last year, which has set me up for success this year.

I have already expressed a strong desire to get the Section it's own law students' Facebook page and have many ideas that I look forward to implementing this year during my term as Law Student Liaison. [edit 4/1/2011: The page is now available at https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10100813764191853&id=2204045#!/pages/ABA-IPL-for-Law-Students/214053651942190]