New Speaker Added!

Get Healthy—See Marco Borges, Trainer to the Stars and Author of Power Moves, Discussing How to Get in Shape and Stay There

1:00 pm–2:00 pm
Hilton San Francisco
Continental 6 (Ballroom Level)

Colson Hicks Eidson presents Marco Borges, world-renowned Exercise Physiologist. Borges has spent the past sixteen years teaching people how to lead healthier lives and achieve what they once thought impossible. His innovative, accessible, and highly effective approach to fitness has made him one of the most sought-after experts in the industry. His full-body transformative health programs have been successfully applied to everyone from severely obese individuals to top professional athletes, business moguls and entertainers. Marco writes a regular fitness column for the Miami Herald and has been featured in numerous other publications. He has developed extremely successful group fitness programs for both adults and children. Through his passion for people and communicating a healthy lifestyle, Marco continues to fight the obesity epidemic one person at a time.

Event sponsored by Colson Hicks Eidson.
Open to all attendees.

Convention Preview Brochure is Now Online

Click here for a preview of the educational programs, featured speakers, and more for the Annual Convention.

Deadline for Tour Sign Up Extended to July 3

There is no end of ways to enjoy the Bay Area. Take in a tour of one of the world’s most beautiful cities, ride the ferry over to explore the history of Alcatraz, enjoy the Wine Country’s lush vineyards, get a behind the scenes look at the famous AT&T Park including the players-only areas and then go on to cheer on the San Francisco Giants to victory . This is a land that is world-renowned and the beloved destination of savvy travelers from all over.

The tour program for the AAJ 2009 Annual Convention is now open. Visit http://www.justiceannualconvention.org/ for more details and to register.
We hope you enjoy the beautiful San Francisco Area and we look forward to seeing you in July!

Tour Summary:
Saturday, July 25—San Francisco City Tour and Alcatraz
TIME: 11:00 am–6:00 pm
COST: $79.00 per Person (Ages 12+); $69.00 per Person (Ages under 11)

Sunday, July 26—Behind the Scenes at AT&T Park
Youth Tour
TIME: 11:00 am–3:00 pm
COST: $95.00 per Person

Monday, July 27—Wine Tour
Adult Tour
TIME: 9:00 am–5:00 pm
COST: $200.00 per Person

Tuesday, July 28—Let’s Play Ball!
Family Tour
TIME: 7:15 pm
COST: $67.00 per Person

Major Hotel and Registration Discounts Announced

Colleagues:

I am looking forward to the Annual Convention in San Francisco, July 25–29, 2009—seeing old friends and making new ones. This national gathering of the plaintiff bar comes at a very important time for our association, and to make it easier for you attend, I’m pleased to announce some new cost saving initiatives. Attending the Annual Convention is now even friendlier to your bottom line!

The official convention hotels have drastically reduced their room rates for AAJ members, with some room types being reduced by nearly $50 per night. And for more savings, the $50 early bird registration discount has been extended. The deadline for reserving your hotel room and receiving the registration discount is June 26, 2009. Significant hotel and registration savings are now yours, but you must take advantage of them before the deadline.

I hope these deep savings have now convinced you to join the plaintiff community this summer in San Francisco. The contacts you will make, plus the strategies you will get from business meetings and continuing legal education programs, make this a must-attend event. What’s more, the keynote speakers and social and political events will keep you busy and engaged throughout the convention. Register now and reserve your hotel room before the June 26, 2009 deadline.

Register now for $50 savings at http://www.justiceannualconvention.org/
Reserve hotel room now for best rates and availability

I look forward to seeing you in San Francisco.

Sincerely,

Tom Henderson
CEO

Schedule of Events Announced for Youth Suite

This year's youth suite is focused on sports, sports, sports! Take part in creating and decorating your own team banner, make your own uniforms, decorate foam fingers and other sports memorabilia. Two Wii stations will be set up for Wii sports tournaments where you can show your skill in games ranging from tennis to bowling to soccer.

The suite will also feature daily in-room features such as a acting classes, hip hop dance classes, or take part in a potions and wonders chemistry workshop. There's something for everyone in the AAJ Youth Suite.

Click here for an outline of daily events in the suite.

Fred D Gray to speak during the Civil Rights Section Education Program

Veteran civil rights attorney Fred D. Gray’s legal career began in the midst of America’s modern-day civil rights movement. With a quiet demeanor, strong determination and secret commitment made in college, he vowed, "to become a lawyer, return to Alabama, and destroy everything segregated I could find."

Gray began his legal career as a sole practitioner, less than a year out of law school, and at age 24, he represented Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus—the action that initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Gray was also Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s first civil rights lawyer. This was the beginning of a legal career that now spans more than 45 years.

Gray has been at the forefront of changing the social fabric of America regarding desegregation; integration; constitutional law; racial discrimination in voting; housing; education; jury service; farm subsidies; medicine and ethics; and generally in improving the national judicial system.
Gray is senior partner at the law firm of Gray, Langford, Sapp, McGowan, Gray & Nathanson, which has offices in Tuskegee and Montgomery. In July 2002, he became the first African-American to hold the position of President of the Alabama Bar Association.”Fred D. Gray will be speaking Monday July 27, 2009, at the AAJ Annual Convention in San Francisco, CA, during the Civil Rights Section Education Program

David Frederick to Speak at AAJ Membership Luncheon

The American Association for Justice is pleased to welcome David Frederick as the invited keynote speaker at AAJ’s Membership Luncheon. Mr. Frederick is a partner at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans, & Figel P.L.L.C. His practice encompasses a broad array of subject matters including the American with Disabilities Act, antitrust, appellate and civil procedure, cable television rules, energy, foreign sovereign immunity, patent, preemption, RICO, riparian rights, securities, transportation, and tribal court jurisdiction. He has argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. He was an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the United States Department of Justice from 1996 to 2001. At the Membership Luncheon you will hear about Mr. Frederick’s recent success in Wyeth v Levine. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Vermont jury’s decision that Diana Levine, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, could hold the drug manufacturer accountable for the injuries she suffered—which included the loss of her arm—after taking one of Wyeth’s medicines.


Please join your colleagues at the Membership Awards Luncheon to honor winters of the prestigious Leonard M. Ring Champion of Justice Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Steven Sharp and the Pro-Bono Award