Aitken Redesign

A supporter of Chapman University’s School of Law from its inception, Wylie Aitken and his wife Bette have given the school a financial endowment to establish what will be called the Center for Lawyering and Advocacy Skills. The new center enables students to build skills in negotiation, mediation, client counseling and trial and appellate advocacy, utilizing the Aitken Trial Courtroom and the Appellate Courtroom. Special guest lecturers from the Southern California legal community will join current law faculty in teaching these skills.

“You can learn the law by reading and study, but developing the skills to be an effective trial lawyer is an entirely different proposition,” says Parham Williams, dean of the Chapman Law School, which is about to graduate its fourth class. “Mr. Aitken’s gift is a significant acknowledgement of the importance of that training, and we will truly grateful.” The law school named its trial courtroom for Aitken in an official overflow dedication ceremony held Friday, May 18, 2001, which was attended by numerous judges, fellow trial lawyers, civic leaders, family and friends.

The dean noted that Wylie had been featured in Best Lawyers in America from its initial publications and was recently named one of the “100” most influential lawyers in California and acknowledged in the Orange County Business Journal’s article on the most influential business leaders in the county. He further noted that Wylie was selected by Senator Boxer and Feinstein to sit on the Judicial Advisory Committee for California regarding federal judges and was recently reappointed by Robert Hertzberg, the Speaker of the Assembly to the State Task Force on Court Facilities.