InBrief

The New South Wales Bar Association is honoured to present a guest lecture by Justice Myron T Steele, the chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court.

Since 2000, Justice Steele has served on the Delaware Supreme Court, before his elevation to chief justice in 2004. Previously, he served as a vice chancellor of the highly respected and influential Delaware Court of Chancery from 1994 to 2000.

The fortunes of many large American corporations, not to mention the subsidiaries of some Australian companies, may be determined by judges in the state of Delaware, which is the leading venue for incorporations in the United States. More than half a million business entities have their legal home there, including more than 50 per cent of all US publicly-traded companies and 60 per cent of the Fortune 500. Many are drawn by the flexible regulatory system and the Delaware Court of Chancery, which is now pre-eminent in US corporate law.

In addition to his judicial activities, Chief Justice Steele is a member of the Corporate and Business Litigation Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and a member of the Judicial Section of the American Bar Association. He is a former deputy attorney general of Delaware and chairman of the Consumer Affairs Board. He has presided over major corporate litigation and writes frequently on issues of corporate document interpretation and corporate governance.

He has published over 300 opinions disposing of disputes among members of limited liability companies, and limited partnerships, and between shareholders and management of both publicly traded and close corporations.

The guest lecture will be held on Thursday, 22 March 2007 at 4.30pm in the Bar Association Common Room.

President Michael Slattery QC wishes to thank the Hon Justice Brian Preston for graciously agreeing to have his CPD seminar on ‘Sentencing for Environmental Law Offences’ rescheduled to Thursday, 29 March 2007.