Delaware judges among legal foundation's participants

By Mark Tapscott

Thousands of American companies are organized under the laws of the state of Delaware, so decisions coming out of the First State's courtrooms can have a major impact throughout the corporate world.

Delaware's Chancery Court describes itself as "the nation's preeminent forum for the determination of disputes involving the internal affairs of the thousands upon thousands of Delaware corporations and other business entities through which a vast amount of the world's commercial affairs is conducted. Its unique competence in and exposure to issues of business law are unmatched."

At least three Delaware judges who have heard multiples cases with either Milberg Weiss or Lerach Coughlin attorneys as plaintiffs counsel have participated in Institute for Law and Economic Policy annual conferences in recent years, including:

- William Chandler of the Delaware Chancery Court attended the 2007 ILEP annual conference in Los Cabos, Mexico. He was a commenter on the conference's third panel, "Mechanisms to reinforce (enforce) fiduciary duties." He has heard 10 cases with either Milberg Weiss or Lerach Coughlin participating since 2000.

- Leo Strine, Jr. of the Delaware Chancery Court attended ILEP's annual conferences in 2003 in San Diego and 2004 in Miami. He was a commenter at the 2004 conference's panel on "State court class and derivative suits - remedies - how well do they work?" He has heard three cases with either Milberg Weiss or Lerach Coughlin participating since 2000.

- Jack Jacobs of the Delaware Supreme Court and a former member of the Chancery Court attended the ILEP annual conferences of 2007, 2006 and 2004. He was a commenter at the most recent of the three conferences on a panel devoted to executive compensation. He has heard five cases with either Milberg Weiss or Lerach Coughlin participating since 2001.

Companies involved in those suits have included Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Microsoft Corp., The Walt Disney Company, MCA, Cox Communications and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Mark Tapscott is the editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner.

Delaware judges among legal foundation's participants

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