The following letter was circulated on behalf of the 19 corporate law professors and 47 corporate lawyers from Delaware and throughout the United States regarding criticism of Chancery Court and Chancellor Andre Bouchard.
As individuals who have decades of experience practicing or teaching Delaware corporate law, we have long recognized that the Delaware Court of Chancery is an invaluable and indispensable contributor to the national and even international renown that Delaware’s judicial system has earned. To achieve and sustain that reputation for fairness and excellence, the individuals who serve as judges on the Court of Chancery and Delaware’s other courts make extraordinary personal and financial sacrifices to engage in that public service.
It is therefore dismaying that a vindictive litigant in the Court of Chancery, unhappy with a factually supported and legally well-reasoned decision of the Court, has chosen to engage in a spiteful personal vendetta against the judge who made that decision. That is precisely what has happened to Chancellor Andre Bouchard, who continues to be the target of baseless public attacks by a group calling itself “Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware” – whose membership and financial support, despite the group’s claimed solicitude for transparency, remain undisclosed, although it seems apparent that the moving force behind the organization is TransPerfect and its owner Philip Shawe.
In our experience, the Delaware Court of Chancery, and Chancellor Bouchard in particular, have been models of integrity and fairness. The “Citizens” group’s effort to depict Chancellor Bouchard and the Court as “corrupt” and out of touch is grossly unfair and is an evident product of personal animus rather than the group’s professed concern for fairness and justice.
We therefore call on the “Citizens” group to cease its baseless public attacks on Chancellor Bouchard and to refrain from further disparagement so that the Court of Chancery can continue to promote the values of integrity and public service that its judicial officers have so consistently exhibited.
- Prof. Afra Afsharipour, UC Davis School of Law
- Prof. Lucian A. Bebchuk, Harvard Law School
- Prof. John C. Coffee, Jr., Columbia Law School
- Prof. Jill E. Fisch, University of Pennsylvania Law School
- Prof. Sean J. Griffith, Fordham University School of Law
- Prof. Joseph A. Grundfest, Stanford Law School
- Prof. Lawrence A. Hamermesh, University of Pennsylvania Law School
- Prof. Henry Hu, University of Texas School of Law
- Prof. Jonathan Lipson, Temple University Beasley School of Law
- Prof. Ann M. Lipton, Tulane University Law School
- Prof. Robert T. Miller, University of Iowa College of Law
- Prof. Frank Partnoy, University of California Berkeley Law School
- Prof. Elizabeth Pollman, University of Pennsylvania Law School
- Prof. Paul L. Regan, Widener University Delaware Law School
- Prof. Hillary Sale, Georgetown University Law Center
- Prof. Randall S. Thomas, Vanderbilt University Law School
- Prof. Robert B. Thompson, Georgetown University Law Center
- Prof. Urska Velikonja, Georgetown University Law Center
- Prof. J.W. Verret, George Mason University School of Law
- Corinne E. Amato, Prickett Jones & Elliott, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- Michael J. Barry, Grant & Eisenhofer, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- Andrew R. Brownstein, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, New York
- Douglas K. Chia, Soundboard Governance, Princeton, New Jersey
- William H. Clark, Jr., Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Nathan A. Cook, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- Karl John Ege, Perkins Coie LLP, Seattle, Washington
- Jay W. Eisenhofer, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- Adam O. Emmerich, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, New York
- Andrea M. Farley, Troutman Sanders LLP, Atlanta, Georgia
- Paul A. Fioravanti, Jr., Prickett Jones & Elliott, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- Henry E. Gallagher, Jr., Connolly Gallagher LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- Ellisa Opstbaum Habbart, The Delaware Counsel Group LLC, Wilmington, Delaware
- James J. Hanks, Jr., Venable LLP, Baltimore, Maryland
- Richard D. Heins, Ashby & Geddes P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- Kurt M. Heyman, Heyman, Enerio, Gattuso & Hirzel, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- Keith F. Higgins, Ropes & Gray LLP, Boston, Massachusetts
- Samuel T. Hirzel, Heyman, Enerio, Gattuso & Hirzel, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- James D. Honaker, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- David A. Jenkins, Smith, Katzenstein & Jenkins LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- Andrew M. Johnston, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- William D. Johnston, Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- Stanley Keller, Locke Lord LLP, Boston, Massachusetts
- Igor Kirman, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, New York
- William M. Lafferty, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- John H. Lawrence, Jr., Shipman & Goodwin LLP, Hartford, Connecticut
- Simon M. Lorne, Millennium Management LLC, New York, New York
- Christine M. Mackintosh, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- David B.H. Martin, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, D.C.
- David C. McBride, Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- Ryan A. McLeod, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, New York
- Jim Melville, Kaplan, Strangis and Kaplan, P.A., Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Theodore N. Mirvis, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, New York
- Robert Mundheim, Shearman & Sterling LLP, New York, New York
- Norman M. Monhait, Rosenthal, Monhait & Goddess, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- Kenneth J. Nachbar, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- Elena C. Norman, Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- Trevor S. Norwitz, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, New York
- John F. Olson, (retired partner), Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, D.C.
- Thomas E. Rutledge, Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC ,Louisville, Kentucky
- William D. Savitt, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, New York
- David M. Silk, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, New York
- Laurie A. Smiley, Alta Advisers Ltd., London, England
- Gilchrist Sparks, III, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, Wilmington, Delaware (of counsel)
- Norman Veasey, Gordon, Fournaris & Mammarella, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware
- Patricia O. Vella, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, Wilmington, Delaware
- R, Daniel Witschey, Jr., Bracewell LLP, Houston, Texas
