Faculty
Lawrence A. Hamermesh
Ruby R. Vale Professor of Corporate and Business Law
Director, Widener Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law
CV| Publications | SSRN Papers
Professor Lawrence A. Hamermesh received his B.A. from Haverford College in 1973 and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1976. Professor Hamermesh joined the Widener faculty in 1994. Prior to joining Widener, Professor Hamermesh worked as associate with Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell in Wilmington, Delaware, from 1976-84, and as a partner at Morris, Nichols from 1985-94. Professor Hamermesh writes extensively in areas of corporate and business law. Since 1995 he has been a member of the Corporation Law Council of the Corporation Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association, which is responsible for the annual review and modernization of the Delaware General Corporation Law, and was Chair of the Council from 2002-2004. Professor Hamermesh also serves as a faculty advisor to The Delaware Journal of Corporate Law.
Courses: Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities Regulation, Business Organizations, Corporate Takeovers, and Professional Responsibility.
Andrew J. Fichter
Executive Directore for the Institutes
Associate Professor of Law
Publications | SSRN Papers
Professor Andrew J. Fichter is Associate Professor of Law at Widener’s Delaware campus and Executive Director of the Institutes, including the Widener Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law. Professor Fichter received a B.A. from Yale University in 1967; a B.A. from Cambridge University in 1969, an M.A. from Cambridge University in 1971, a Ph.D. in English Literature from Yale Graduate School in 1974, and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1985. Following graduation from law school, Professor Fichter was an associate at Dechert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the firm’s business practice, concentrating in corporate, health law, mergers and acquisitions. Professor Fichter also practiced at Hangley Connolly Epstein Chicco Foxman & Ewing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was Chairperson of the firm’s Health Care Group. Most recently, Professor Fichter practiced at Salvo, Russell, Fichter & Landau in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Professor Fichter joined the faculty at Widener University School of Law in January 2003. He previously taught at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Villanova University Law School, Princeton University and Yale University.
J. Patrick Kelly
Vice Dean
Professor of Law
SSRN Papers
Professor J. Patrick Kelly received a B.A. from University of Delaware in 1967 and his J.D. from Harvard University Law School in 1972, where he served as a member of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Following graduation from law school, Professor Kelly was Special Assistant for Legislation, Office of General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission, Washington, D.C., from 1972-75; Attorney, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 1976; Assistant to Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, from 1977-80. Professor Kelly then served as Visiting Fulbright Professor of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, from 1980-82; Counsel, Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization, House Banking Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., from 1983-84. Professor Kelly joined the faculty at Delaware Law School in 1984 as an Associate Professor of Law. Professor Kelly was appointed Vice Dean in 2009.
Courses: International Law, International Trade Law, International Environmental Law, International Business Transactions, and Administrative Law.
Larry D. Barnett
Professor of Law
Publications | SSRN Papers
Professor Larry D. Barnett received a B.A. summa cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles; an M.S. from Oregon State University; a Ph.D. from Florida State University; and a J.D. with Honors from the University of Florida. He joined the faculty of the Widener University Law School in 1978 and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Leiden in The Netherlands in 1979-80. His books include Mutual Funds and Federal Regulation, a casebook for law school courses on the federal Investment Company Act and Investment Advisers Act, and Legal Construct, Social Concept, a book on the sociology of law. In addition, Professor Barnett founded Population Research and Policy Review, a journal in the field of demography that has been published since 1982, and he served as editor-in-chief for its first eleven volumes. Professor Barnett also serves as a faculty advisor to The Delaware Journal of Corporate Law.
Courses: Mutual Funds, Securities Regulation, and Professional Responsibility.
Ann E. Conaway
Professor of Law
CV | Publications | SSRN Papers
Professor Ann E. Conway received her B.A. from the University of Georgia in 1976 and her J.D. from Temple University in 1983. Professor Conaway joined the faculty at Widener as an assistant professor of law and served in that capacity from 1985-89; she was an associate professor of law from 1989-96, and was promoted to professor of law in 1996. Following graduation from law school, Professor Conaway clerked for the Honorable Henry R. Horsey, Delaware Supreme Court in Dover, Delaware from 1983-84, and was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Wilmington, Delaware from 1984-85. On October 1,1990, Chancellor William T. Allen appointed Professor Conaway Master pro hac vice for the Court of Chancery, and she remained in that role until 1992. Professor Conaway also serves as a faculty advisor to The Delaware Journal of Corporate Law.
Courses: Business Organizations, LLCs & Statutory Trusts, Contracts, Securities Regulation, Negotiating Business Contracts and Advanced Business Enterprises.
Associate Professor of Law
CV | Publications | SSRN Papers
Professor Nicholas A. Mirkay received his B.S. from Saint Louis University in 1989; a J.D. from University of Missouri – Columbia School of Law in 1992; and an LL.M. in Taxation, with distinction, from Georgetown University Law Center in 1996. At the University of Missouri-Columbia, Professor Mirkay served as Associate Editor in Chief on the Missouri Law Review. Professor Mirkay joined the Widener faculty in 2003. Before joining Widener, Professor Mirkay served as an Attorney-Advisor to the Honorable Carolyn Miller Parr of the United States Tax Court in Washington, D.C. He then joined the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service where he served as an attorney in areas of disclosure and privacy act litigation for two years. In 2001, Professor Mirkay was elected a partner in the tax department of Lewis, Rice & Fingersh in St. Louis, Missouri.
Courses: Federal Income Tax, Tax-Exempt and Nonprofit Organizations, State & Local Taxation, and Business Organizations.
Assistant Professor of Law
Professor Edward Osei received his B.S. from the University of Ghana; M.A. from Yale University; M.B.A. from Stanford University; M.I.M. from Baylor University; J.D. Temple University; and his LL.M. in taxation from New York University. Before law school, Professor Osei worked for AstraZeneca as Manager of Managed Care Marketing. In that role, Professor Osei led the managed care contract review process and also developed strategies for AstraZeneca’ Managed Care Organization. Professor Osei has also worked for Bristol Myers Squibb and Pepsi Cola in their Business Planning/Mergers and Acquisitions Departments. In these roles, Professor Osei led multifunctional companies to acquire million-dollar business throughout Latin America, Europe and Africa. Prior to joining the Widener School of Law faculty, Professor Osei was an associate in the Short Hills, NJ office of Boies, Schiller & Flexner where he devoted half his time on complex civil litigation, antitrust, and false claims litigation and the other half to advising clients on commercial transactions. Upon graduating from law school, Professor Osei clerked for the late Clifford Scott Green of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Courses: Federal Income Tax, Sales & Leases, Contracts.
Associate Professor of Law
Publications | SSRN Papers
Professor Paul L. Regan received a B.S. from Villanova University in 1979 and a J.D. from Temple University in 1982. Following graduation from law school, Professor Regan served as a litigation associate with Fellheimer, Eichen & Goodman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1982-83; litigation a associate with Liebert, Short, Fitzpatrick & Lavin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1983-85; and a corporate litigation associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Wilmington, Delaware, from 1985-94. Professor Regan joined the faculty at Widener as visiting associate professor of law and served in that capacity from 1994-1995. Since 1995, Professor Regan has served as an associate professor of law.
Courses: Business Organizations, Advanced Corporations, Corporate Finance, and Contracts.