Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law Professors Ronald Rotunda and David Gibbs were recently named to the 2017 Los Angeles “Best Lawyers” list by Best Lawyers magazine. Professor Rotunda was recognized for Ethics and Professional Responsibility and Professor Gibbs for Arbitration and Mediation.

The Best Lawyers rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes peer reviews from leading attorneys. This is the ninth consecutive year Professor Rotunda has been included in the Los Angeles list and the fourth year for Professor Gibbs, who was previously recognized by Best Lawyers for his work in Boston from 2007 to 2013.

Professor Rotunda is the Doy and Dee Henley Chair and Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at Chapman’s law school. Prior to joining Chapman in 2008, he was a Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law and the Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Illinois. He clerked for Judge Walter R. Mansfield of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and practiced law in Washington, D.C., where he served as assistant majority counsel for the Watergate Committee. He previously served as Commissioner of the Fair Political Practices Commission and was a Distinguished International Research Fellow at the World Engagement Institute. He has co-authored leading course books on legal ethics and constitutional law and has written more than 350 articles in various law reviews, journals and newspapers. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and a JD from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Law Review.

Professor Gibbs’ teaching focuses on experiential education designed to help students integrate their knowledge of the law with skills and values necessary to become effective and ethical lawyers. He was previously a Practitioner in Residence at Suffolk University Law School where he established the first Investor Advocacy Clinic in New England. He is also a founder of the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange. He is a former partner at Bowditch & Dewey, LLP and Nixon Peabody, LLP in Boston, where he focused on corporate governance and planning, business litigation and alternative dispute resolution. He has tried more than 70 cases in court, arbitration and administrative hearings. He has a national practice in dispute resolution and has served as a mediator or arbitrator on more than 250 matters. He regularly speaks on dispute resolution and experiential education.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Tufts College of Liberal Arts and a JD from University of California at Berkeley School of Law.