Why come to the ASIL Midyear Meeting? Athens.

A recent post welcomed all readers to attend the ASIL Midyear Meeting, to be held here in Georgia October 19-21. Yours truly has the honor of serving as the meeting's co-chair, along with my colleague Charlie Hunnicutt, Senior Counsel at the Thompson Hine law firm and a fellow former ASIL VP.
The prior post told of keynote speakers -- Patricia O'Brien, Under-Secretary for Legal Affairs and U.N. Legal Counsel, and Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State -- as well as a blue-ribbon panel of international arbitration experts, a career mentoring event, and the scores of Research Forum presenters from around the world. You can see the updated schedule, and register, at the Midyear Meeting website.
Today starts a series of posts on why you should come to the meeting.

(1983 photo courtesy Red & Black)

1st up in the series:
Athens, Georgia.
Located about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta, Athens is home to the University of Georgia and the 150-plus-year-old University of Georgia School of Law, a host of the Midyear Meeting. Georgia Law has a rich international law tradition. Among those who've taught here are Louis B. Sohn (above, at left), a drafter of the U.N. Charter and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, and Dean Rusk (above, at right), former U.S. Secretary of State and namesake of the law school's Dean Rusk Center for International Law & Policy.
Both men will be among those paid tribute at the Midyear Meeting conference dinner -- a dinner to be held at the Lyndon House, site of a Victorian mansion/museum (left) that'll be open to visitors.
Athens is perhaps best known as one of those great American college towns.

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Sport is big, whether it's watching football (the Dawgs will be out of town that weekend), cheering champion swimmers, or running or biking about the wooded and hilly area. An adventurous cyclist might consider trekking to the town of Elberton, site of the Georgia Guidestones (right) aka "American Stonehenge," a mysterious and multilingual installation of granite etched with phrases like this one:

'Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.'

The weekend offers runners an added attraction: the 3d Annual Athens Half-Marathon, which begins at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, October 21.

Touching off the race will be Olympic medalist Reese Hoffa -- and the race ends with an Olympics-like final lap in the football team's Sanford Stadium (just another lap or so away from the site of the morning's Research Forum sessions). Register for the AthHalf here and now; spaces are filling up fast.
Foodies looking for a meal after Friday's welcome reception at the Indigo Hotel have a host of topnotch restaurants from which to choose, including the National and Five & Ten, both owned/operated by "Top Chef" judge Hugh Acheson.

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The birthplace of bands like R.E.M. and the B-52s, Athens is a magnet for musicians of all genres and home to any number of pubs and clubs. Music-minded meeting-goers might consider nicking over to the just-restored Georgia Theatre (right), venue for great concerts. And the Theatre's rooftop bar offers a great venue for a post-conference-dinner nightcap.
Register here (and note that the hotel's discount rate ends September 24). Hope to see you here soon!