Former Chief Justice Leo Strine, Jr. Joins Wachtell Lipton

Former Chief Justice Leo E. Strine, Jr. Joins Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Former Delaware Chief Justice Leo E. Strine, Jr. has joined Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as of counsel after a distinguished 27-year career in public service. Mr. Strine served as Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from 2014 to 2019. Before his appointment as Chief Justice, Mr. Strine served as a Vice Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery from 1998 until 2011 and then as Chancellor from 2011 to 2014. In the course of 21 years on the bench, he issued scores of influential decisions that have shaped contemporary law in multiple fields, including corporate governance, fiduciary duties, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Strine has also been a leading corporate law scholar, having authored over 50 articles in publications, including numerous prestigious university law reviews, such as the Harvard, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Law Reviews, and other elite journals, including The New York Times, The Financial Times and The Business Lawyer, among others.

Mr. Strine will work with Wachtell Lipton’s lawyers and clients in structuring corporate governance solutions, including in the increasingly important area of efficiently integrating concern for sustainability and social responsibility (“EESG”) into corporate practices, structuring complex transactions, and shaping transactional and litigation strategy. In that strategic counseling role, Mr. Strine will also bring to bear his other relevant experience, having served for six and a half years as Counsel and Policy Director to Governor Thomas R. Carper before taking the bench, and administering the Delaware Judiciary as Chief Justice and the Court of Chancery as Chancellor. In those capacities, Mr. Strine managed high-stakes litigation (including playing a key role in the successful settlement of a litigation involving all 50 U.S. states), shaped and implemented legislative and regulatory strategies, managed the budget and employees of complex organizations, and helped develop public communications strategies to explain policies to the public.

Explaining his decision to join Wachtell Lipton, Mr. Strine said: “As a judge, I thought the importance of corporations in our society could not be measured by their stock price, and that it was critical to our nation’s well-being that powerful businesses treat their workers and consumers well, support the communities in which they operate, and focus on environmentally responsible, sustainable wealth creation.” Noting that “for more than two generations, Wachtell Lipton has been a consistent voice on behalf of that viewpoint and has embedded it in how it treats its people, and how it assists clients,” Mr. Strine concluded that the Firm would be “a great institution for me to help to put into practical application principles I believe are vital to our economy working for everyone.”

Mr. Strine also emphasized his continuing commitment to working closely with corporate law colleagues around the country: “It was important to me to join a firm that collaborates closely with other law firms, especially those in Delaware, to achieve the best outcomes for clients.”

Mr. Strine looks forward to working with the Firm’s attorneys and clients and will be reachable at the Firm’s office in New York City.