History
The Founding of the AAML Southern California Chapter
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers was founded nationally in 1962. By the 1970s, regional chapters had formed, including Northern California. Southern California Fellows, including Harry Fain and Stuart Walzer, began building support for a chapter of their own that reflected Southern California family law practice and professional culture. By 1985, they had reached the 35-Fellow threshold and formally petitioned the National Academy to establish the Southern California Chapter. Provisional status was granted that year, with Stuart Walzer elected provisional president and Sandy Morris elected vice president.
At the Chapter’s first retreat in Morro Bay, organized by Sandy Morris, the early focus took shape around substantive family law education, professional responsibility, and trial skills. Steve Adams, editor of California Family Law Reports, led an interactive session titled Why Do We Have Spousal Support? examining whether support should be viewed as rehabilitative, compensatory, a holdover from fault-era divorce, or another model. Professor Robert Aronson, a national expert on legal ethics, presented on professional responsibility in family law practice. Judge Ashworth, Judge Thomas Murphy, and Sandy Morris presented on gender bias in family law courts, then an emerging topic in national legal discourse.
Following the Morro Bay retreat, Chapter leadership presented Southern California’s early work to the AAML Board of Governors at the national meeting in Chicago. That presentation, together with the Chapter’s early emphasis on ethics and professional standards, helped prompt the Academy to establish a committee to draft a formal code of ethics for family law practitioners. That effort culminated in Bounds of Advocacy, with Professor Aronson serving as Reporter and Southern California Fellows Stuart Walzer and Jan Gabrielson serving on the drafting committee.
The Morro Bay retreat evolved into the Chapter’s Annual Institute of Trial Advocacy, a cohesive weekend centered on three days of advanced family law education taught by judges, Fellows, and subject matter experts. The program addresses developing law, trial strategy, evidentiary issues, expert testimony, and professional responsibility. The weekend also strengthens collegiality across the Southern California family law bench and bar and includes annual awards recognizing extraordinary contributions to the family law community and the broader public.
The Chapter’s educational mission also includes the annual Trial Basics Seminar. Launched in 2016, led by Greg Herring, and moderated by Garrett Dailey, TBS is offered at no cost to family law attorneys building core trial skills with guidance from AAML Fellows. The program is structured in two parts, a full-day seminar on opening statements, direct and cross-examination, documentary and electronic evidence, expert testimony, closing argument, and common pitfalls, followed by a full-day in-person practicum where participants apply those techniques in real time.
Southern California Fellows have served at the highest levels of the Academy nationally and the California courts. Four Fellows associated with the Chapter, Harry Fain, Sandra Morris, James Hennenhoefer, and Peter Walzer, served as national AAML Presidents. Several Fellows also went on to become some of the most respected family law judges in Southern California, reflecting the Chapter’s long record of leadership from the bar to the bench. The Chapter’s record of service also includes Justice Sheila Prell Sonenshine, who was a Fellow before taking the bench as a family law judge and later serving on the California Court of Appeal. Chapter Fellows have also served on judicial committees, contributed to legislative and policy work affecting family law in California, and supported grants through the AAML Foundation for public interest organizations serving families throughout Southern California.