250th Anniversary Gala - 2026 ABA Annual Conference

Join the ABA to celebrate and reflect on the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and honor the profound legacy of the lawyers who helped build America and inspired countless movements for freedom and justice throughout the world. This special fundraising event will feature a keynote address, followed by a ceremony presenting the prestigious ABA Medal, the Association's highest honor recognizing outstanding lifetime service in the law and jurisprudence.

This momentous, black-tie affair features a reception with a silent auction followed by a three-course dinner, world-class entertainment, and dancing. A ticket is included with a Justice All-Access registration pass or may be purchased separately.

Details:

Friday, July 31 | Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower, Ballroom Level

6:00 - 7:00 p.m. | Gala Reception, Grand Ballroom Foyer

7:00 - 9:00 p.m. | Dinner and Program, Grand Ballroom

9:00 - 10:00 p.m. | Dancing, Grand Ballroom

Meet the Keynote

George F. Will, whose column is syndicated in more that 300 newspapers across 47 states and four countries, is one of the most widely read writers in the world. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Mr. Will was a Newsweek contributing editor for 35 years. He addresses diverse topics from politics to baseball.

His 15th book is The Conservative Sensibility, published in June 2019. His 16th book, American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008-2020, is his ninth collection of reflections on our culture and was released in September 2021. Among his works are also three about his passion for baseball. His Men at Work, the all-time best-selling book on baseball, has been reissued in a 20th anniversary edition. Mr. Will was a member of Major League Baseball's Blue Ribbon Panel, examining baseball economics.

Mr. Will is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT, Oxford University, and Princeton University, where he received a PH.D in politics. Prior to entering journalism, Mr. Will taught political philosophy at Michigan State University and the University of Toronto. Since entering journalism, he has taught at Harvard and Princeton.

Meet the ABA Medal Honoree

For more than half a century, John M. Rosenberg has been one of the most consequential and enduring champions of civil legal aid, helping to shape the field and expand meaningful access to justice for people and communities too often left behind.

John’s commitment to equal justice was forged early and under circumstances that would define his life’s work. As a Holocaust survivor who later witnessed American segregation firsthand while serving in the U.S. Air Force, he developed an urgent conviction that justice systems either protect everyone or protect no one. In his early work as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, where he met his wife Jean, he successfully tried the first case under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He also helped prosecute those responsible for the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

John’s career found its fullest expression at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund (AppalReD Legal Aid), where John served as the first Executive Director and longtime leader. At a time when access to justice in rural and low-income communities received little national attention, John recognized the profound consequences of unmet legal needs and built one of the country’s most impactful regional legal aid organizations. Under his leadership, AppalReD Legal Aid became a national model for the field, combining impact litigation, policy work, and community engagement to advance fairness and economic justice across eastern and south-central Kentucky and parts of Appalachia.

Through his work with the IOLTA Clearinghouse and as co-founder of the Kentucky Equal Justice Center, John helped ensure that civil legal aid could endure and adapt across decades of political and economic change. He trained and mentored hundreds of legal aid lawyers, many of whom became exceptional advocates, judges, and leaders in the access-to-justice movement.

In recognition of his decades-long leadership, the Legal Services Corporation recognized John as a Champion of Justice in 2024. Colleagues across the field describe him as principled, generous with his time, and deeply committed to the belief that civil legal aid is not simply a set of programs but a movement sustained by lawyers, advocates, and community members working together toward a more just society. That ethos has shaped countless careers and continues to influence the field today.

At 94, the former longtime member of the Kentucky Bar Association Board of Governors remains active on the ABA’s Pro Bono Committee and the Kentucky Public Advocacy Commission and has continued to accompany Kentucky’s delegation to ABA Day in Washington every year to advocate for the Legal Services Corporation. College basketball fans would marvel that he earned degrees from Duke University and the University of North Carolina School of Law and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Kentucky.

John’s career exemplifies the values the ABA Medal was created to honor: distinguished service to the cause of American justice and a lifetime commitment to advancing fairness, equity, and the rule of law.

ALEXIS J ROSTON

Time Out Chicago calls her “phenomenal,” and Showbiz Chicago raves “Roston holds the audience in the palm of her hand.” Actress, director, and playwright Alexis J Roston earned acclaim for her mesmerizing portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, including Chicago’s Jeff Award, a Black Theatre Alliance Award, and the Black Excellence Award. Other credits nationwide include starring in Don’t Make Me Over - A Tribute to Dionne Warwick (Jeff Nomination, Black Theatre Alliance Award Nomination), Sister Act (Deloris, Jeff nomination), Ghost the Musical (Oda Mae Brown), Porgy and Bess (Bess), Ragtime (Sarah), Shrek: The Musical (Dragon), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Charlaine), The Wiz (Addaperle), For Colored Girls... (Lady in Orange), The Piano Lesson (Grace), Crowns (Jeanette), Company (Sarah), Godspell (Joanne), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Brenda), Jesus Christ Superstar, The Color Purple, Hair, Hairspray, and work with The Second City. Concerts include First Lady of Song: Alexis J Roston Sings Ella Fitzgerald which tours nationally with Artists Lounge Live. An ensemble member of Congo Square Theatre, Roston served as director and playwright of A Nativity Story: More Than A Miracle. Television: Chicago PD, Chicago Code, and The Chi. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Howard University.

KELVIN ROSTON, JR.

Kelvin Roston, Jr. is a multi award-winning actor, musician, and playwright. Roston starred Off-Broadway and across the country as music legend Donny Hathaway in his original one-man show Twisted Melodies. Roston's staggering performance as Hathaway earned national acclaim including a Black Alliance Theatre Award, a Black Excellence Award, and a Jeff nomination. Roston also was celebrated for his performance as Jackie Wilson in The Jackie Wilson Story, earning a Black Theatre Alliance Award, A Black Excellence Award, and a Jeff nomination. For his dedication to classic plays, Roston received the Nicholas Rudall Classic Artist Award. Other theatre highlights include King Hedley II (Hedley, Jeff Award, Black Theatre Alliance Award), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Jeff nomination), The Gospel at Colonus (Oedipus, Jeff nomination), Sister Act (Curtis), The Wiz (The Wiz), The Tragedy of Othello (Othello), Oedipus Rex (Oedipus), Porgy and Bess (Bill), Rent (Benjamin Coffin III), Dreamgirls (James Thunder Early), The Color Purple (Mister), Fences (Troy), Seven Guitars (Floyd), and Five Guys Named Moe. Television appearances include South Side, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD. He’s a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, an ensemble member of Congo Square Theatre, and represented by Paonessa Talent.

NIK KMIECIK

A Chicago based actor-singer-musician, Nik has had a rich career, working for over a decade in theatres across Chicagoland and around the country, entertaining and collaborating with people from all over the world. A proud graduate of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois; he has also led and sung with a variety of bands and performers and has written and produced original music and theatrical events. Nik has been proudly represented by Stewart Talent Chicago since 2015. His theatre credits include WAITRESS (Ogie), ONCE (Andrej), Paramount Theatre; GREASE, Drury Lane; TWELFTH NIGHT, Writers Theatre; SS! MACBETH, LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST, HENRY V, Chicago Shakespeare; RENT, CAN-CAN, MINNIE’S BOYS, and CALL ME MADAM, Porchlight Theatre; HELLO AGAIN, Theo Ubique. THE HUNDRED DRESSES, Chicago Children’s Theatre; EDWARD TULANE and PINOCCHIO, Filament Theatre; FRANKINLAND, Jackalope Theatre; THE DISTANCE, Haven Theatre; WHITE ROOSTER, Lookingglass Theatre. This summer, he will join the company of Porchlight Music Theatre’s citywide parks tour, Broadway in Your Backyard, for his fifth consecutive year.

SATYA CHÁVEZ

Satya Chávez is an award winning Chicago-based, Latiné, multidisciplinary artist, recognized for their work as an actor, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and live-looper. Their border play, Refuge, co-created with Andrew Rosendorf, which received an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, a Venturous Theater Fund Grant, and a MAP Fund Grant, has been produced at Curious Theatre (True West Award), Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre (Non-Equity Wing Jeff Awards: Best Original Music in a Play, Best Ensemble, and Artistic Specialization), Unicorn Theatre, and Theatre Lab FAU. Chávez also made their directorial debut with Refuge at Theo Ubique, Unicorn Theatre, and Theatre Lab. Their other compositional credits include: an original score for Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, a one-person live-looping musical written by Brian Quijada, produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville (Drama League Award nominated), Cleveland Playhouse, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Marin Theatre Company, The Denver Center for Performing Arts and Steppenwolf 1700 (November 2024); an original score for ¡Bernarda! produced with Teatro Vista at Steppenwolf 1700 (Jeff Award Nominated); an original score and sound design for Corduroy at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; their Theater For Young Audience musical, Brighter Futures, co-created with Gabe Ruiz and J. Godwin, which premiered at Paramount Theatre; Seattle History Remix, a live-looping TYA play with music developed with Idris Goodwin as Seattle Children’s Theater’s first Artist in Residence. Their work also includes original music for Late, A Cowboy Song (Wirtz Center); Hamlet and Ophelia (The Artistic Home); Empanada (The Public San Antonio); Life on Paper (Jackalope Theatre Company); and Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night (Colorado Shakespeare Festival). Commissioning institutions include: Goodman Theatre, The Denver Center for Performing Arts, Paramount Theatre, TheatreSquared, Seattle Children’s Theater, Curious Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville.