By James Bond

If you joined us in Las Vegas last year for Viva Lex Vegas, the first annual CBABC Conference, or if you didn’t join us and wish you had, now is the time to start preparing for our second annual Conference, San Francisco Style, November 16th and 17th, 2007.

Like the Viva Lex Vegas theme from last year, this year’s San Francisco Style theme has nothing to do with legal notions, and everything to do with our host city. Don’t get me wrong – there will be plenty of law-related programming (10 hours of programming that count toward your Law Society Annual Practice Declaration, as a matter of fact). However, we also want the delegates to engage in and soak up the atmosphere of our host city while they are learning, socializing and networking – and we have made a concerted effort to ensure that happens.

Our conference hotel is the Crowne Plaza Union Square, located right in the heart of the dining, entertainment and shopping action. The opening reception will be a Napa Valley Wine Tasting held at a well-known Union Square art gallery. The optional closing event, Beach Blanket Babylon has been a San Francisco must-see for the last 30 years and is called a “hilarious, campy, over-the-top San Francisco institution.”

We were extremely pleased with the feedback we received on our continuing legal education programs last year, and have developed a program for this year’s Conference which you will find even more engaging. We have also continued the format of inviting well-known legal luminaries from across the continent (and in the case of this year’s Conference, the San Francisco area in particular) to speak along with well-known legal commentators from here in British Columbia.

Those of you who attended last year will be pleased to know that we’re bringing back BERKEY BELSER, the marketing and brand management whiz who was our highest-rated speaker in Las Vegas. Some of our other speakers include:

• MARY CARLSON, the Executive Director of the British Columbia Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, who will be addressing the impact of privacy legislation on the legal profession (and its clients);
• ROBERT MCDIARMID, QC, our former Law Society President, who will be co-presenting with Denise Howell, a well-known American legal commentator, on the ethical issues arising from technology;
• TERRENCE O’SULLIVAN, one of Canada’s best-known commercial litigators, and lead counsel for the CBA on its recent intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada in the Davis & Co. case; and
• JOHN KEKER, a San Francisco intellectual property litigator and member of the California Bar’s “Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame” who is ranked by numerous publications as one of the best lawyers in America.

This year’s Conference has a limited capacity (and a great price – $750 gets CBA members the programs, as well as the cocktail reception, breakfasts and lunches on Friday and Saturday, and dinner on Saturday night). We have conveniently included the registration form as an insert in this issue of BarTalk. Don’t wait… take advantage of the opportunity to soak up a little San Francisco Style.

James Bond, CBABC Executive Officer, CBABC 2007 Conference Chair

This article was published in the June 2007 issue of BarTalk. © 2007 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.