William Chandler

Former Chancellor William B. Chandler III is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he advises both public and private clients in connection with corporate governance matters, special committee assignments, internal investigations, and merger and acquisition transactions. He previously served on the firm’s Policy Committee.

Mr. Chandler joined the firm from the Delaware Court of Chancery, the nation’s leading court for corporate law cases, particularly those relating to change of control and other corporate law issues. He was appointed Chancellor in 1997, after serving as Vice Chancellor since 1989.

Widely regarded as one of the country’s most influential judges on issues of corporate law and governance, he issued more than a thousand opinions and presided over some of the most contentious and high-profile corporate law disputes in the country, including those involving The Walt Disney Company, Yahoo, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, eBay, Citigroup, Dow Chemical, and, most recently, the Air Products/Airgas dispute.

Many of his rulings have become required reading for M&A and business law practitioners, and he has written and lectured widely on numerous critical corporate law issues.

Prior to his appointment to the Court of Chancery, Mr. Chandler served as resident judge of the Delaware Superior Court from 1985 to 1989. He previously was an associate with Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell and served as legal counsel to Pete duPont, the former governor of Delaware.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Chandler taught commercial law, legislative process, and remedies at the University of Alabama School of Law. He currently teaches a law course in Advanced Corporations at the University of Chicago.

Mr. Chandler is a member of the American Law Institute and a trustee of the Yale Center for Corporate Governance, and the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance.

EDUCATION:

• LL.M., Yale Law School, 1979
• J.D., University of South Carolina School of Law, 1976
• B.A., Philosophy and Political Science, University of Delaware, 1973

ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS:

• Member, Board of Advisors, Institute for Law and Economics, University of Pennsylvania
• Member, Advisory Board, Weinberg Corporate Governance Center, University of Delaware
• Fellow, American College of Governance Counsel
• Honorary Chair, Advisory Board for the Adolf Berle Center on Corporations, Law and Society, University of Seattle School of Law
• Member, Yale University Corporate Governance Center, Yale Law School
• Member, Delaware Bar Association
• Member, American Law Institute

ADMISSIONS:

• State Bar of Delaware
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court