Each year the Widener Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law hosts or co-hosts a number of events which focus on current corporate and business law topics.  Previously, the institute facilitated or participated in the following events:

• Francis G. Pileggi Distinguished Lecture In Law
• Ruby R. Vale Interschool Corporate Moot Court Competition
• Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Presentations and Seminars

28th Annual Francis G. Pileggi Distinguished Lecture In Law

• Title: Unsettled and Unsettling Issues in Corporate Law

  

• Speaker: Professor Lyman P.Q. Johnson
• Location: Hotel DuPont
• Date & Time: Friday, November 9, 2012 at 8:00 am

This lecture series, co-hosted with the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, focuses on developing issues in the area of corporate law.  It also provides the Delaware Bar, particularly the members of the bench, an opportunity to challenge the academia with practical concerns.

Abstract

This lecture revisits two fundamental issues in corporate law.  One involves a great deal of seemingly settled law—the central role of the business judgment rule in fiduciary litigation—while the other—whether there is a mandated corporate purpose—has very little law.  Using the emergent question of whether the business judgment rule should be used in analyzing officer and controlling shareholder fiduciary duties, Professor Johnson will propose a rethinking of the rule’s analytical preeminence.  For a variety of reasons, he suggests elevating duties themselves to be more prominent and deemphasizing the business judgment rule.

As to corporate purpose, Professor Johnson will advocate that Delaware law permit a pluralistic approach in the for-profit corporate sector.  Long agnostic about ultimate corporate objective, Delaware law may have turned unnecessarily toward a strict shareholder primacy focus in the 2010 eBay decision.  To bring clarification and to foster flexibility, Professor Johnson recommends a legislative default provision, with an opt-out feature.

Biography

Professor Lyman P.Q. Johnson is a nationally known scholar, whose work focuses on business associations, securities regulations, corporate finance, and business planning. His scholarship has been cited by judges, in their own scholarly writings, presentations, and in judicial decisions, including in In re Walt Disney Company Derivative Litigation, 2005 WL 2056651 (Del. Ch. Aug. 9, 2005), where two of his articles on fiduciary duties were cited.  In addition, his article on the business judgment rule was voted by American corporate law professors to be one of the “Top 10” corporate and securities law articles in the country for the year 2005.

For More Information

For tickets and more information on the lecture at the Hotel DuPont e-mail djcl@widener.edu or Click here to sign up. This lecture will be repeated at Widener University School of Law at 11:00 am in Polishook 203.

UPDATE: A summary of the 28th Annual Pileggi Lecture is available here.

25th Annual Ruby R. Vale Interschool Corporate Moot Court Competition

• Date: March 14–17, 2013

  

• Location: Widener University School of Law, Delaware Campus
• Distinguished Scholar Lecture: The Honorable Jed S. Rakoff of The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Lecture Date & Time: Friday, March 15, 2013 at TBD

The Corporate Competition is an interscholastic appellate moot court competition co-sponsored by the Moot Court Honor Society of the Widener University School of Law, Delaware Campus. The competition focuses on the area of corporate law. Each round of the competition is judged by attorneys and judges from the bench and bar of Delaware and nearby Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Each year, a distinguished scholar in the field of corporate law joins the competition’s final bench.

The problem to be argued will contain at least two corporate issues of current legal relevance.

For more information and to register go to: Ruby R. Vale Competition

A brochure can also be found here.

UPDATE: A summary of the 25th Annual Vale Corporate Moot Competition is available here.

2012 DuPont & Widener University School of Law Intellectual Property Continuing Legal Education Seminar

• Date: Thursday, October 11, 2012
• Location: The DuPont Country Club–Wilmington, Delaware
• Time: 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Course Fee:  $575 per registrant (received before September 24, 2012) and $600 per registrant (received after September 24, 2012 and subject to space availablity).

This seminar has been approved for a total of seven CLE credits, including one ethics credit in Delaware and Pennsylvania. Otehr states may be announed. For a full agenda please visit the DuPont Legal IP CLE Seminar Page.

2012 Annual Visiting Scholar in Residence in Business and Corporate Law Presentation

The Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law of Widener University School of Law and The Delaware Counsel Group LLP, Attorneys at Law, are pleased to invite you to the 2012 Annual Visiting Scholar in Residence in Business and Corporate Law Event to be held on Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 4 pm at The Wilmington Club, 1103 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware.

This year’s scholar is Professor Mohsen Manesh of the University of Oregon School of Law.  Professor Manesh’s publications include Contractual Freedom under Delaware Alternative Entity Law: Evidence from Publicly Traded LPs and LLCs, 37 J. Corp. L. 555 (2012), and Delaware and the Market for LLC Law: A Theory of Contractibility and Legal Indeterminacy, 52 B.C. L. Rev. 189 (2011).

A reception will follow the presentation.

For more information, please feel free to contact Prof. Lawrence Hamermesh at lahamermesh@widener.edu, or Ellisa Habbart at The Delaware Counsel Group, LLP at 302-576-9600 or Ehabbart@decg.com.

Continuing Legal Education Presentation by Professor Keith Sharfman of St. John’s University School of Law

• Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2012
• Location: Richards, Layton & Finger–Wilmington, Delaware
• Time: 4:30 p.m.
• Course Fee:  TBA

Professor Sharfman is associate director of Bankruptcy Studies at St. John’s University, and is faculty editor of the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review. Attendees will be able to earn one hour of CLE credit. Additionally, enrollment is limitd to 40 attendees, so please RSVP as soon as possible, and by September 7, 2012, to Connie Sweeney (cmsweeney@widener.edu) to reserve a seat.

Continuing Legal Education Presentation by Professor Juliet Moringiello of Widener University School of Law

• Date: Thursday, September 6, 2012
• Location: Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnel, LLP–Wilmington, Delaware
• Time: 4:30 p.m.
• Course Fee:  TBA

In 2010, Professor Moringiello was the Robert M. ZinmanResident Scholar at the American Bankruptcy Institute, and she serves on the editorial board of the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review and The ABI Journal. Attendees will be able to earn one hour of CLE credit. Additionally, enrollment is limited to 30 attendees, so please RSVP as soon as possible, and by September 4, 2012, to Connie Sweeney (cmsweeney@widener.edu) to reserve a seat.

UPDATE: A summary of Professor Moringiello’s presentation is available here.