After Serving on Delaware’s Court of Chancery, Former Vice Chancellor Slights Joins the Firm’s Corporate Governance Practice as a Partner in the Wilmington Office
Contact:
Wayne Kessler
Baretz+Brunelle
732.239.9710 Mobile
wkessler@baretzbrunelle.com
PALO ALTO, CA (August 8, 2022) – Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, announced today that former Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III has joined the firm’s litigation department as a partner in the Wilmington, Delaware, office. He will be a member of Wilson Sonsini’s corporate governance practice.
Prior to joining the firm, Slights served as Vice Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery for six years before his recent retirement from the court. He was nominated to the Court of Chancery by former Delaware Governor Jack Markell in 2016. From 2000 to 2012, Slights served as a judge on Delaware’s Superior Court where, among other assignments, he was instrumental in forming the court’s Complex Commercial Litigation Division.
“Following his accomplished 18 years of service as a judge and several years of private practice in Delaware, former Vice Chancellor Slights’ insights and unquestionably thorough understanding of critically important legal issues will be of substantial value to clients,” said Doug Clark, managing partner at Wilson Sonsini. “Former Vice Chancellor Slights is widely praised for not only his many career achievements, but also for managing judicial matters with professionalism and fairness. We’re very proud to add yet another esteemed former member of the judiciary to our firm and pleased that he is joining an already formidable corporate governance team.”
Wilson Sonsini’s corporate governance team represents the management teams, directors, and special board or management committees of some of the largest companies in the world. The multidisciplinary governance practice provides legal counsel across all areas related to public company matters, including securities, compensation, M&A, antitrust, litigation, internal and agency investigations, and tax. The corporate governance team also advises on complex and novel private company matters. A key part of the governance practice is the firm’s 30-attorney Delaware team, which includes respected and established practitioners—such as former Chancellor William B. Chandler III, who led the Delaware Court of Chancery for 14 years—all of whom have been at the forefront of the most important and wide-reaching developments in the areas of corporate governance and related litigation. The team has expertise concerning all aspects of Delaware corporate law and governance, and also represents clients in corporate litigation, especially in the Delaware courts.
“Serving on the Delaware Court of Chancery as Vice Chancellor was a tremendous honor, and now I’m looking forward to working with Wilson Sonsini’s talented team in Delaware and what I know to be an impressive national governance practice,” said former Vice Chancellor Slights. “With the firm’s innovative clients and the many practitioners behind the firm’s success, I am confident this platform will allow me to direct my energy toward the type of work that clients value and need—and do so as part of a dynamic team that shares my passion.”
Before his appointment to the Superior Court of Delaware and the Delaware Court of Chancery, former Vice Chancellor Slights worked in private practice, where he focused on corporate and business litigation and alternative dispute resolution.
Former Vice Chancellor Slights earned his J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law in 1988, and an undergraduate degree from James Madison University in 1985.
About Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
For more than 60 years, Wilson Sonsini’s services and legal disciplines have focused on serving the principal challenges faced by the management and boards of directors of business enterprises. The firm is nationally recognized as a leading provider to growing and established clients seeking legal counsel to complete sophisticated corporate and technology transactions; manage governance and enterprise-scale matters; assist with intellectual property development, protection, and IP-driven transactions; represent them in contested disputes; and/or advise them on antitrust or other regulatory matters. With deep roots in Silicon Valley, Wilson Sonsini has offices in 18 technology and business hubs worldwide. For more information, please visit www.wsgr.com.