The Hon. William B. Chandler III ’79 (LLM), Chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery
(From left) Roberta Romano ’80, Hon. William B. Chandler III ’79 (LLM), Robert Todd Lang ’47, Dean Robert Post ’77, and Arthur Fleischer, Jr. ’58
At the presentation of the award, Center Director Roberta Romano ’80 remarked:
“Following in Simeon Baldwin’s footsteps with a life of public service, Bill Chandler has served for over two decades on the Chancery Court, having been appointed a Vice Chancellor in 1989 and then appointed Chancellor in 1997. One can convincingly make the case that Chancellor Chandler has done more to improve the quality of corporate law than any other contemporary graduate of Yale Law School. One of his important opinions was the Walt Disney litigation over Michael Ovitz’s employment contract. Chancellor Chandler entered into uncharted territory, defining the standard of good faith, and the Delaware Supreme Court adopted his standard word for word. No small feat. Bill Chandler’s opinions are not only well-reasoned and well-crafted, but they are erudite and at times, downright entertaining (or as some put it, ‘typically colorful’). In fact, according to the Law Blog, Bill Chandler is an ‘undisputed LB star’ because of his ‘ability to entertain his audience with otherwise heavy corporate law opinions’ with his references to mythology (Cerberus in United Rental) and pop culture (how many court opinions cite a rapper or analogize M&A to video games?) In the pantheon of great Delaware judges, Chancellor Chandler’s place is secure. So we thank you Bill, for the tremendous public service you have provided to the development of corporate law jurisprudence; the Simeon Baldwin award is a small token of the esteem we have for your outstanding work on the bench.”