The President of the Delaware State Bar Association is taking aim at a marketing and public relations effort aimed at Delaware Chancellor Andre Bouchard.
William Brady issued a message to members that is harshly critical of the effort by Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware. The group has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertisements targeting Bouchard and Chancery Court while also calling for judicial reforms and a more diverse judiciary.
“The Citizens group, using a high profile public relations firm, has now renewed and ramped up its attacks on the Court, repeatedly calling it “corrupt”, as well as personally attacking Chancellor Bouchard and his family. The Chancellor could not respond to the unwarranted personal attacks, then or now, because he, like all Delaware judges, is bound by a Judicial Code of Conduct that forbids such response. On the other hand, we, as a Bar Association, are not bound by such restrictions and the recent renewal of the disrespectful attacks on the Chancellor has reached the point where we can no longer remain silent,” Brady wrote.
The Bar Association also scheduled a press conference on Oct. 1 to discuss the issue.
Chris Coffey, who serves as a spokesman for Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware fired back with a letter that defends the group, which is described as being comprised of TransPerfect employees and concerned Delaware citizens.
“We are highly disappointed that the Bar Association’s immediate response to calls for transparency and diversity are to circle the wagons and attack the credibility of the organization as opposed to hearing the valid concerns of thousands of Delaware residents. Your conclusions are correct, that we believe that the Chancery Court acted in an unprecedented way to force the sale of a company without the approval of shareholders, and cost over $250 million dollars in unnecessary legal fees to the company and more importantly, its employees. However, thousands of Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware members are also concerned that their courts can force the sale of a person’s company and spend tens of millions of dollars without any documentation,” Coffey wrote.
TransPerfect ended up being sold under an agreement approved by Chancery Court with 50-50 founding partner Philip Shawe, buying out the stake of Elizabeth Elting.
Before and after Shawe’s victory, Citizens and the TransPerfect owner continued a public relations and advertising campaign that started during the battle for TransPerfect. Shawe moved TransPerfect’s state of incorporation from Nevada to Delaware. Litigation over fees in the TransPerfect case is now taking place in Clark County, NV.
Below are the messages from Brady and Coffey:
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