Vice Chancellor Leo E. Strine Jr., the colorful and sometimes combative judge in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, has been nominated to lead the forum considered the premier venue for corporate battles and the linchpin to the state’s lucrative incorporations franchise.

Gov. Jack Markell announced the nomination Wednesday, just one week before the scheduled retirement of Chancellor William B. Chandler III, whose last day is June 17.

Strine, 47, who is widely known in America’s corporate law community as a highly intelligent and talented jurist, has served on the court since 1998 as one of four vice chancellors. In that position, Strine developed a national reputation for his penetrating opinions and courtroom humor.

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Introduction

Due primarily to the high cost of electronic discovery, delay in reaching a final resolution and uncertainty as to the outcome, there is a consensus that civil litigation must be reformed. To address the concerns of business litigants, and to provide yet another option for the resolution of complex business disputes within Delaware’s highly regarded court system, the Delaware Superior Court has established a Complex Commercial Litigation Division (CCLD) effective May 1, 2010. To promote prompt and efficient disposition of complex matters, the CCLD will include a special assignment of experienced judges, tight case management orders to move cases to conclusion, special e-discovery orders to limit expense and avoid disputes and protocols to control expert witness and fact discovery.

Not every business dispute is eligible for the CCLD. To qualify, a case must: (1) include a claim with an amount in controversy of at least one million dollars, (2) involve an exclusive choice of court agreement or a judgment resulting from an exclusive choice of court agreement or (3) be so designated by the president judge. Cases that meet one of these criteria can be brought in the CCLD – a forum that is focused on addressing what matters to parties who file and litigate complex commercial disputes.

The CCLD was designed to address two principal concerns of business litigants: (1) the need for predictable procedures to control the course of the proceedings and to bring such proceedings to a prompt conclusion and (2) the need for reasonable control over the cost of discovery, including e-discovery. The CCLD addresses these concerns by following three primary case administration principles.

First, each CCLD case will remain with the same judge from start to finish. Second, each CCLD case will be administered pursuant to uniform procedures, including the requirement of an early Rule 16 scheduling conference for counsel to meet and confer with the judge. At the Rule 16 conference, a case management order will be entered that covers all phases of the case, including the handling of discovery disputes and dispositive motions, early mandatory disclosures and the exchange of electronic discovery. Third, each CCLD case will be assigned firm pretrial and prompt trial dates that will be given priority as among the panel judges’ other trial assignments.

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In its infancy the Court of Chancery was set up by the King of England to hear matters where no law was in existence to settle some disputes. Thus the King’s Chancellor was to hear the case and consider the fairness of the matter. This type of court does not exist in other legal systems and only three U.S. States have such a court. A court of equity differs from a court of law; matters before the Court of Chancery are heard as bench trials meaning that they are tried before a judge, alone. Without juries, judges are left to make rulings considering all issues of fact and law. For more than 200 years, the Delaware Court of Chancery has exercised exclusive jurisdiction over all matters and causes in equity in the State of Delaware.

The Court is comprised of one chancellor and four vice chancellors, all of whom are nominated by the Governor and confirmed for 12 year terms by the Senate. The five chancellors must all be well versed in law and must be Delaware citizens. The Delaware Court of Chancery has jurisdiction over a number of matters including commercial proceedings, real property, guardianship, and civil matters.

The majority of the litigation heard in today’s Delaware Court of Chancery consists of corporate, trust and estate matters.  The most notable power of the Court is its ability to issue injunctions and temporary restraining orders, and is most frequently exercised in corporate differences over mergers or acquisitions. A typical merger dispute will see a plaintiff seek temporary relief to preserve the status quo until a trial can occur. If the need should arise, the Court of Chancery may order issues of fact to be tried by a jury in the Supreme Court of Delaware.

With more than 200 years of judicial precedent, the Delaware Court of Chancery is hailed as the nation’s leading forum for settling corporate disputes, and is one of the most important reasons why Delaware is the most favorable environment for the world’s commercial affairs.

Competition from other states is rising, however, as they observe the revenue produced for the state from its status as a top legal venue for corporate law. Over the decades, Delaware has carefully cultivated corporate statutes to make them more attractive to corporations than those of other states. In an effort to continue this, Delaware’s Court of Chancery has developed a system that could allow for binding arbitration. This will allow companies to present arguments privately to a judge from the court and get a decision in a timely manner, instead of the lengthy process of going to trial. The arbitration process is confidential and not available for public record; this is especially important when dealing with proprietary information such as technology and patents.

Eric Ruth of The News Journal writes, “Under the new rules, the rivals can choose to sit down privately with a judge from the court — or, as they are called, a chancellor — present their arguments, and let the arbitrator decide the outcome. The goal is to resolve the matter in 90 days — Chancery Court cases have been known to last a year or two before even reaching trial.”

Delaware’s efforts to broaden the scope of Chancery Court and make the arbitration process confidential, timely, and affordable, will keep the state on the cutting edge as the nation’s “corporate capital.”

When it comes to gossip in the corporate legal community, the Delaware Court of Chancery has made for interesting water-cooler conversation lately.

Lawyers and legal professors across the country are buzzing about who will fill the seat that will be vacated next month by highly respected Vice Chancellor Stephen P. Lamb. The vice chancellor let it be known about a year ago that he would not serve another term. Lamb’s current 12-year term expires on July 28.

“As soon as there’s any inkling that someone is going to retire from the Court of Chancery, it sets off an enormous wave of speculation,” said Lawrence Hamermesh, director of the Widener Institute of Corporate Law at Widener University. “I’ve gotten questions going back two years about Vice Chancellor Lamb.”

What wasn’t surprising to corporate law watchers, however, was the nomination last week of Chancellor William B. Chandler III to a second term as the court’s chief judge. Chandler’s term is set to expire at midnight on June 30. Gov. Jack Markell sent a letter to the Delaware Senate on Wednesday saying he would nominate Chandler as chancellor on July 1, according to Joe Rogalsky, spokesman for Markell. The Delaware Senate is expected to vote to confirm the nomination on July 1, Rogalsky said.

Chancery Court vacancies have long created buzz in the business world because the court is one of the main reasons big business prefers to incorporate in the state, legal experts said. More than half of the companies on the New York Stock Exchange and about 63 percent of Fortune 500 companies have filed their certificates of incorporation in the state.

Corporate lawyers like to bring matters before Chancery Court judges because they spend the majority of their time handling complex corporate and commercial matters, corporate academics said. In addition to the sophisticated and knowledgeable jurists, businesses like the predictability and consistency of the non-jury court.

Read the full post by Maureen Milford here:

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090621/BUSINESS/906210322/1003/In+legal+circles++all+eyes+on+Court+of+Chancery