ATTORNEY PROFILE

Basil Chapman is a family law attorney in Palm Desert and Indian Wells, California. He is a State Bar Certified Family Law Specialist (one of only a handful of such specialists in Coachella Valley) with 30 years of experience in aggressive and tenacious representation of clients in family law and civil litigation. He represents clients to resolve issues in divorce or dissolution of marriage, spousal support or alimony, child support, child custody, community property division of real estate/business/other assets, modification of support or custody, restraining orders, legal separation, pre-nuptial agreements, ante-nuptial agreements, and uncontested marital settlement agreements He is one of the most highly qualified attorneys in Palm Desert or Palm Springs area that can handle complex divorce cases involving businesses and professional practices, real estate, pension plans and complex financial issues including dealing with forensic accountants for business valuation.

He was past president of the Desert Bar Association in California's Coachella Valley (Riverside County) which includes Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Bermuda Dunes, Desert Hot Springs, La Quinta, Indio, Coachella, Thermal, and Salton Sea. Basil Chapman is one of the lawyers hand-picked and associated by out-of-area attorneys who seek representation in
the local courts. The local courts are located in Palm Springs and Indio where most clients' cases of the Law Office of Basil Chapman are filed. The firm also represents clients with cases in neighboring courthouses in Riverside County including Banning,
Blythe, Corona, Hemet, Moreno Valley and Riverside; as well as in San Bernardino County including Joshua Tree, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga and San Bernardino.

EDUCATION:
Basil Chapman received his Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors in Political Science from Rutgers University. After post-graduate work in Political Science, Mr. Chapman attended California Western School of Law where he was an editor of the California West Law Review, writing, editing and publishing scholarly legal articles. Mr. Chapman received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, graduating Magna Cum Laude and passing the California State Bar on the first attempt. While attending law school and working part-time, he received numerous awards, including the American Jurisprudence award in Civil Procedure (first in a class of 270), Community Property (first in a class of 88) and Family Law (first in class of 45) and in fact, was first in class in every legal subject the last three semesters of law school. After law school and while working as an attorney, Mr. Chapman completed some post-graduate course work (including Accounting) in the MBA program at San Diego State University.

EXPERIENCE:
Basil Chapman started general practice in San Diego. Shortly thereafter, he was hired by Wood, Lucksinger & Epstein, then the nation's largest law firm specializing in health care law. Mr. Chapman later accepted an offer to join Best, Best & Krieger (BB&K), a law firm with nearly 200 attorneys, which was the oldest and largest law firm in inland Southern California at the time. Mr. Chapman became a partner in BB&K's civil litigation department. He successfully handled many multi-million dollar lawsuits without losing a single trial during his entire tenure with BB&K (1985-1999). In 1991, Mr. Chapman founded BB&K's family law department. Mr. Chapman became a Certified Family Law Specialist by the State Bar of California after meeting all of the rigorous family law practice experience requirements and after passing a special day-long written examination. Mr. Chapman left Best, Best & Krieger and opened his own law firm on January 1, 1999, to provide optimum service for his clients. The large law firm's staffing policies could not accommodate the Family Law Practice which requires constant communication with the clients, sometimes on a daily basis during critical segments of the dispute. Mr. Chapman's law firm specializes in complex family law matters often involving family businesses, professional practices, pension plans and other complex financial issues in addition to the more routine custody, visitation,
support and property division issues. Mr. Chapman has won every child custody trial he has handled in the last 15 years. One of the reasons for this success is that we do not encourage clients with weak legal positions to waste inordinate amounts on
attorney fees for a hopeless or emotional objective. After being elected for ten consecutive years to the Board of Trustees of the
Desert Bar Association by his fellow attorneys, Mr. Chapman became the President of the Desert Bar Association and liaison to the Family Law Section of the State Bar. Mr. Chapman now serves as an occasional advisor to the board and its officers.
In 2010, Mr. Chapman has been selected to Super Lawyers as one of the top Family Law attorneys in California and currently has the highest professional peer review rating by the lawyer ratings organization (AVVO) of all family law practitioners in the Coachella Valley.

AREAS OF PRACTICE:
Complex and Simple Family Law Matters Civil Litigation, Real Estate and Business Matters

CERTIFICATIONS/SPECIALTIES:
Certified Family Law Specialist, State Bar of California, 1991

AFFILIATIONS:
State Bar of California (Member)
Association of Certified Family Law Specialists (Member)
Desert Bar Association (Past President)
DBA Family Law Section (Member)

PAST POSITIONS:
Best, Best & Krieger, Partner, Civil Litigation Department
Best, Best & Krieger, Founder, Family Law Department
For more information, contact the LAW OFFICES OF BASIL CHAPMAN APLC, 74-900 Highway
111, Suite 122, Indian Wells, CA 92210, telephone direct (760) 340-3223, e-mail
info@basilchapman.com, or visit us on the web at www.basilchapman.com.