When: October 15–17, 2026 | Where: The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles
The CELA Conference 2026, formally the 40th Anniversary Employment Law Conference, runs October 15 to 17 at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles. Hosted by the California Employment Lawyers Association, it is two and a half days of legal education and networking built only for plaintiffs' employment lawyers. The 2026 program carries 13.25 hours of MCLE credit and marks forty years of CELA's work for California workers.
This is one of the few events where the whole room sits on the same side of the v. Only attorneys who represent workers can attend, so the panels and the hallway talk are pitched at plaintiffs' practice rather than split between both bars.
Legal Soft is exhibiting at CELA 2026. We work with plaintiffs' firms whose caseloads are growing faster than their headcount, and the conference is a good place to talk through what virtual staffing looks like inside an employment practice.
About the CELA 40th Anniversary Employment Law Conference
CELA is a statewide group of over 1,400 California attorneys who spend most of their practice representing employees, both in single-plaintiff cases and in class actions. Members handle unpaid wage claims, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and whistleblower matters. CELA has also filed amicus briefs before the California Supreme Court in a long line of landmark employment cases.
The annual conference is CELA's flagship teaching event, and the 2026 edition carries extra weight as the 40th anniversary gathering. Programming comes from CELA's Education and Conference Committee, chaired by Scott Tillett with Rachel Terp as vice-chair.
Sessions, MCLE Credit, and Format
The conference carries 13.25 hours of MCLE credit. Specialty credit is noted inside each panel description rather than applied across the whole program. CELA is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider under number 2292.
The event is hybrid, but the limits are worth knowing before you book. Only CELA members can attend online, and only general sessions plus some breakouts are live streamed. Most sessions are recorded and included with member registration, but recorded sessions carry no CLE credit. Credit goes to live in-person or real-time virtual attendance only.
There are no one-day or partial registrations. You attend in person or online for the full event, and there are no refunds. CELA publishes the full session agenda on the official conference event page.
Registration Rates and Deadlines
Regular registration is open. Early bird pricing closed on September 10, 2026.
Sustaining members receive complimentary registration. Member rates are the same for in-person and virtual attendance.
Four dates still matter:
- September 29, 2026: deadline to book a room at CELA's discounted hotel rate
- October 8, 2026 at 12:00 PM PST: deadline for attendee substitutions, which must be cleared through CELA's administrative office, and for changing registration type between in person and virtual
- October 14, 2026 at 12:00 PM PST: regular in-person registration rates close, and virtual registrations can no longer be accommodated
- October 15, 2026 at 9:00 AM: onsite registration opens at the Westin Bonaventure
Walk-in registration is available onsite but requires additional processing time.
Schedule at a Glance
Session titles, times, and speakers are published in CELA's abbreviated conference agenda. The full program qualifies for 13.25 hours of MCLE credit, with specialty credit noted in individual panel descriptions.
What You'll Get Out of It
- Substantive California employment law updates from practitioners who try these cases
- 13.25 hours of MCLE credit, including specialty categories, in two and a half days
- Access to a room composed entirely of attorneys who represent workers
- Co-counsel relationships and referral connections across California
- Exposure to vendors, experts, and mediators who work specifically with the plaintiffs' bar
- Post-conference access to recorded sessions, alongside CELA's On Demand CLE catalog, for CELA members
A Note for Plaintiffs' Employment Firms
Employment practices scale unevenly. One PAGA or wage and hour matter can throw off more document review, payroll data work, and class member outreach than a firm's current staff can absorb, and intake arrives in waves that headcount cannot follow.
That gap is what caps growth in most plaintiffs' employment firms. Legal Soft places legal-trained virtual staff who learn the firm's existing case management system, sign NDAs, and work on HIPAA-compliant infrastructure.
Tasks that transfer well in an employment practice include:
- Screening and qualifying inbound claimant calls through remote intake specialists
- Requesting and organizing personnel files, payroll records, and medical documentation
- Building and maintaining class member contact lists and declaration tracking
- Document review and exhibit preparation handled by virtual paralegals
- Calendaring administrative deadlines across DFEH, EEOC, and court filings
- Spanish-language client communication and document translation support
Bilingual staffing matters more here than in most practice areas. A large share of California wage and hour claimants are Spanish speakers, and communication capacity often determines how many class members a firm can actually reach.
Meet Legal Soft at CELA 2026
Legal Soft is exhibiting at the CELA 40th Anniversary Employment Law Conference, October 15 to 17 at The Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles. Stop by the booth to talk through staffing models with someone who works with plaintiffs' firms daily.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is the CELA 2026 conference?
The CELA 40th Anniversary Employment Law Conference runs from 10:30 AM on Thursday, October 15, 2026 to 12:30 PM on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, 404 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90071.
How many MCLE credits does the CELA conference offer?
The 2026 conference qualifies for 13.25 hours of MCLE credit. Specialty credit is denoted in individual panel descriptions. CELA is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider, number 2292.
Who is eligible to attend the CELA conference?
The conference is exclusively for attorneys who represent workers, and non-member attorneys must complete a declaration confirming they qualify. Full-time mediators and arbitrators, law professors, law students, and paralegals are exempt from that requirement. Employees of companies that sell products or services to CELA members do not qualify to attend sessions.
Can I attend CELA 2026 virtually?
Virtual attendance is available to CELA members only. Only general sessions and certain breakout sessions are live streamed, though most sessions are recorded for later viewing. CLE credit is awarded only for live in-person or real-time virtual attendance.
How much does CELA 2026 registration cost?
Regular rates run from $795 to $945 for CELA members depending on years in practice, and $1,280 for non-CELA members attending in person. Non-profit, legal staff, and paralegal members pay $625, and law student members pay $250. Regular in-person registration rates close at 12:00 PM PST on October 14, 2026, after which onsite registration opens the following morning.
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