Dear Colleagues –
I’m looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the 2025 AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco, from January 7-11. Given this extraordinary moment in American history, the role of lawyers and legal educators has never been more important.
As many of you know, workers at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, where the majority of our meeting sessions are scheduled, are currently on strike. We have been in close contact with the hotel workers’ union Unite Here and with Hilton for months, encouraging a mutually positive agreement. Unite Here recently resolved several of their ongoing negotiations and ratified contracts in cities across the country including Boston, San Jose, San Diego, Seattle, and Honolulu.
Recognizing the two sides may not reach agreement by the time of our meeting, we have been working on alternatives to ensure our meeting can go forward in San Francisco. We know that members of our community represent a wide range of views, and we will not ask our attendees to cross a picket line.
To that end, we have contingency plans in place. If the two sides cannot reach agreement, we will move all conference events to the nearby Moscone Center, which has the staffing and resources necessary to deliver the high-quality event our attendees deserve. We have also secured a limited block of rooms at a hotel that is not impacted by the Hilton contract negotiations, and will provide a list of additional hotels. Attendees could choose to stay at the alternative hotel, at the original meeting hotels, or at any other hotel of their choice.
Our strong preference is that Unite Here and Hilton reach an agreement in the very near future, allowing our Annual Meeting to go forward as originally planned. We will stay in close contact with them. If such an agreement is not reached within the next week, we will take the necessary steps to implement our contingency plans.
To enable you to plan, I will be in contact again by December 1—either with the news that Unite Here and Hilton have ratified a new contract, or with confirmation of our new meeting location and hotel option.
Until then, be well and please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions. I appreciate your patience as we work through these issues, and I look forward to gathering with our community in San Francisco in January.
Best regards,
Kellye Y. Testy
AALS Executive Director & CEO