ISN'T IT RICH? - American Business Media

Is Delaware’s top Chancery Court judgepro-business, pro-plaintiff, or pro-Delaware?Answer: All of the above.Tell Us How You Really Feel, LeoBy Susan BeckIllustration By Joe CiardielloOn December 19an impassioned argument was heard in the Court ofChancery of the state of Delaware, explaining why a group of plaintiffs lawyers deserveda fee that worked out to $35,000 an hour. Two months earlier, the lawyershad won a whopping $2 billion award in a derivative suit brought by shareholders ofSouthern Peru Copper Corporation and were seekinga proportionately whopping fee. When one ofthe defense lawyers suggested that such a huge feewould be a windfall, it raised the hackles of one personin the courtroom.“There’s nothing that’s going to be a windfallabout this. Nothing,” this person insisted. “A windfallis someone else bought a Powerball ticket andthe wind blew it and it fell in someone’s lap.” Clearlyagitated, he kept going for several minutes on thistheme. “You know,” he asked, “what is it about lawyersgetting money that’s ickier than investmentbankers or other people in society?”Who was this person jumping to the defense ofthe plaintiffs bar? It wasn’t one of the lawyers seekingthe fee. It was Chancellor Leo Strine, Jr., whoat that December hearing awarded the lawyers $305million, the largest fee award ever in the annals ofDelaware litigation by many multiples.Strine explained to the assembled counsel that hewanted to create a “healthy incentive” for plaintiffslawyers to seek real achievement. “I would hate toset a different incentive,” he said. “I think that thatwould be worse.”These might not be the words you’d expect tohear from the chief judge of America’s top businesscourt, the court that for eight straight years hasearned the number one rating from the U.S. Chamberof Commerce in its ranking of state courts. TheChamber of Commerce doesn’t take kindly to plaintiffslawyers, or their friends.The 47-year-old Strine—who was elevated to thetop seat on the Chancery Court last June, replacingthe diplomatic and uncontroversial William ChandlerIII—is hard to pigeonhole. He’s the product ofDemocratic politics, having served for six years as atop aide to a Democratic governor of the state. He’sspent scant time in the private sector and advocatesfor stronger business regulation. And he has pointedlycondemned the irresponsible behavior of companiesand institutional shareholders.At the same time, he’s a proud son of DelawareMORE ONLINEFOR THE LATEST NEWSon the DelawareChancery Court, go tothe Litigation Daily atLitigationdaily.com.78 March 2012 | americanlawyer.comThe American Lawyer | March 2012 79