Wylie A. Aitken

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein recently named Aitken to chair a committee charged with finding California’s next top federal prosecutors, the latest task in an influential career that extends far beyond his day job securing multimillion-dollar litigation victories.

“If you’re going to impact the law and influence what’s going on with the law, it also means you have to get out into the community and influence all the other facets that become a part or parcel of the system,” Aitken said.

“All of these things won’t get done unless we’re leaving the courtroom and leaving our offices and really getting out into the community.” At the same time, Aitken Aitken Cohn continues to score litigation wins, including a $2 million settlement in March for a high school student struck by a car, and $4 million in January for another teen injured in a school bus crash. The firm, which includes Aitken’s three children, also this year secured for Newport Beach attorney James D. Daily a nearly $7 million arbitration award from a client that had refused to pay him. Daily v. Stueve Bros. Farms LLC, 2015-00816480 (O.C. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 22, 2015). Aitken’s next big cases include a recent wrongful death lawsuit against CR&R Inc. on behalf of the family of an 8-year-old boy killed when a trash truck hit him as he walked home from school last year in Newport Beach. McCann v. CR&R Inc., 2017-00939507 (O.C. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 23, 2017).

He’s also suing Southern California Edison on behalf of the family of a man who died allegedly after a downed power line electrocuted him as he rushed to help victims of a car crash in Riverside County last year. Pingree v. Southern California Edison, RIC1611688 (Riverside Super. Ct., filed Feb. 1, 2017). A similar case against Edison over a triple fatality in San Bernardino County resulted in a 2014 settlement that included a $24 million fine, including $9 million for power line education.

“We see these kinds of sad and tragic deaths, and there’s so much out there that can be prevented,” Aitken said.

In addition to litigation and the U.S. attorney search, Aitken is busy this year chairing Chapman University’s Board of Trustees. He’s long been a supporter of Chapman’s Fowler School of Law, where a moot courtroom bears his name. His advice to aspiring lawyers reflects his philosophy of success: “You can make a difference in life, but you don’t win a lot of popularity contests, and that should never be a goal for lawyers.”

— Meghann M. Cuniff