Leo E. Strine, Jr. (born 1964) is an American attorney and retired

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

for the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

. He served on the

Delaware Court of Chancery The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court. Since 2018, the court consists of seven judges. The cour ...

as vice chancellor from 1998 to 2011 and chancellor from 2011 to 2014, and as the chief justice of the

Delaware Supreme Court The Delaware Supreme Court is the sole appellate court in the United States state of Delaware. Because Delaware is a popular haven for corporations, the Court has developed a worldwide reputation as a respected source of corporate law decisions, ...

from 2014 to 2019. Strine joined

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (known as Wachtell; ) is an American white-shoe law firm in New York City. Wachtell has only a single, Manhattan office, making it one of the smallest firms in the AmLaw 100. History The firm was founded in 1 ...

in 2020.

Life and career

Born in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Strine grew up in

Hockessin, Delaware Hockessin () is a census-designated place (CDP) in New Castle County, Delaware, New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 13,478 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. History Hockessin came into existence as a littl ...

. He graduated from A.I. DuPont High School in 1982. Strine then graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' from the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

in 1988 with his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

, after having received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' from the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

in 1985. Strine clerked for Judge

Walter King Stapleton Walter King Stapleton (June 2, 1934 – November 23, 2024) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of De ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts for the following United Sta ...

and for Chief Judge

John F. Gerry John Francis Gerry (November 17, 1925 – March 10, 1995) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Education and career Born in Camden, New Jersey, Gerry received an Artium Baccala ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. gover ...

. He was a corporate litigator at the firm of

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates (known as Skadden) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm comprises approximately 1,700 lawyers and is the fourth highest ...

, and then Counsel to Governor Thomas R. Carper. Strine has taught at several academic institutions including

UCLA School of Law The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly known as UCLA School of Law or UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. History Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of t ...

Vanderbilt University Law School Vanderbilt University Law School (also known as VLS) is the law school of Vanderbilt University. Established in 1874, it is one of the oldest law schools in the southern United States. Vanderbilt Law enrolls approximately 640 students, with each ...

, and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, and lectured at many more. He is currently the Michael L. Wachter Distinguished Fellow in Law and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He became Vice Chancellor of the

on November 9, 1998, and became Chancellor of that court on June 22, 2011. During the 2006–2007 academic year, he served as a special judicial consultant to the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

's Committee on Corporate Laws. Strine was confirmed as Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court on January 29, 2014. In October 2018, Strine wrote for the majority when it found that the

business judgment rule The business judgment rule is a case-law-derived doctrine in corporations law that courts defer to the business judgment of corporate executives. It is rooted in the principle that the "directors of a corporation ... are clothed with hepresump ...

protected a controlling shareholder even though it did not offer minority shareholder protections until after its initial

squeeze-out A squeeze-out or squeezeout, sometimes synonymous with '' freeze-out'', is the compulsory sale of the shares of minority shareholders of a joint-stock company for which they receive a fair cash compensation. This technique allows one or more share ...

bid. In July 2019, Strine announced his retirement from the bench, to be carried out at the end of September or October or upon the confirmation of his successor. Strine retired from active service on October 30, 2019. In April 2020, the New York-based law firm Wachtell Lipton announced that former Chief Justice Strine would be joining its firm to advise Wachtell’s clients on mergers, litigation and other matters. In July 2022, Twitter announced it had retained Wachtell Lipton to sue Elon Musk in regards to the termination of Twitter's acquisition by Musk. Strine was announced as part of the team handling the matter.

Personal life

Strine lives in Hockessin, Delaware, with his wife Carrie, an occupational therapist, and their two sons, James and Benjamin.

Controversy

In a 2010 case, Ingres Corp. v. CA Inc., during a breach of contract case, both sides, Ingres Corp and

CA Inc CA most often refers to: * Canada, a country by ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code * California, U.S. state by postal abbreviation CA or ca may also refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U ...

, both agreed that Strine erred. Vice Chancellor Strine made a comment that he, "forgot this oral statement and delved only into the voluminous record. As indicated above, this record was confusing and I came away from it with the wrong impression. …I overlooked this deposition testimony and instead focused upon the written documents in the record when drafting the Post-Trial Opinion. In short, I blew it.” Although he acknowledged that his "original factual finding to the contrary was inaccurate," Strine held that his error did not change the outcome of the case.

Publications

Strine has published many academic articles on corporate law and is a frequent commenter on business law, generally. Notably, he has been published by the

Yale Law Journal ''The Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ) is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students at Yale Law School. The journal is one ...

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of ...

University of Pennsylvania Law Review The ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review'', formerly known as the ''American Law Register'', is a law review published by an organization of second and third year J.D. students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It is the oldest law ...

Cornell Law Review The ''Cornell Law Review'' is the flagship legal journal of Cornell Law School. Originally published in 1915 as the ''Cornell Law Quarterly'', the journal features scholarship in all fields of law. Notably, past issues of the ''Cornell Law Revi ...

, Northwestern Law Review,

Delaware Journal of Corporate Law ''The Delaware Journal of Corporate Law'' is Widener University Delaware Law School's corporate law review. The ''Journal'' was established in 1975 and is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025. The ''Journal'' publishes three issues per annual ...

, and the Journal of Corporation Law. Many of his scholarly writings can be found on hi
SSRN page

References

External links