


Overview
Ellisa Opstbaum Habbart is a founding partner of The Delaware Counsel Group LLP (“DECG”), a Delaware firm that exclusively represents Delaware corporations and Delaware alternative entities in national and international business transactions. DECG clients comprise U.S. and international law firms and businesses.
Described in Chambers USA as “bright and businesslike, with a dynamic presence in front of a room of people,” Ms. Habbart is included in Chambers USA as one of “America’s Leading Business Lawyers in Delaware Corporate/Mergers and Acquisitions Law.” She is rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell.
Ms. Habbart is also listed in the International Who’s Who of Corporate Governance Lawyers published by Who’s Who Legal, the official research partner of the International Bar Association. Ms. Habbart is one of only 20 private practice lawyers in Delaware to gain a spot on this selective list, and among these Delaware practitioners, she is the only woman.
Prior to founding DECG, Ms. Habbart was an associate (1988-1993) and partner (1993-1999) with Prickett Jones & Elliott in Wilmington, Del., and was the partner in charge of the Delaware office of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young (1999-2004).
Industry Leader
Ms. Habbart was part of the Delaware Secretary of State’s “Mission to London” in early June, 2011. Delaware Supreme Court Justice Jack Jacobs, Delaware Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock and Cynthia Kane, Special Assistant to the Delaware Secretary of State, joined Ms. Habbart on a trip to the United Kingdom to educate leading London law firms on the advantages of forming a business in Delaware. The advantages discussed include use of Delaware’s well-developed corporate and alternative entity law and access to the state’s highly regarded court system, including a new arbitration program offered by the Delaware Court of Chancery.
Ms. Habbart is the Vice Chair of the International Bar Association (the “IBA”) Corporate/M&A Committee on Private Equity.
Ms. Habbart has been a member of the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Committee on Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations since 1995.
Ms. Habbart has participated a member of the Delaware Bar Association Committees responsible for the creation and amendment of the Delaware limited partnership, limited liability company and statutory trust acts.
Ms. Habbart is the ABA Advisor to the Uniform Law Commission’s Drafting Committee on Statutory Trusts.
Ms. Habbart is the co-author of the legal text “Delaware Limited Liability Companies Forms and Practice” and co-author of “Delaware Limited Partnership Law,” each of which are updated annually.
Ms. Habbart is a member of the steering committee of the Delaware Bankers Association.
Ms. Habbart chairs the American Bar Association (“ABA”) committee responsible for the global activities of the LLCs, Partnerships and Unincorporated Entities Committee of the ABA’s Section of Business Law.
Bar Admission
Delaware, 1988
Pennsylvania, 1986
Memberships
American Bar Association
Delaware State Bar Association
International Bar Association
National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms
Delaware Bankers Association
Education
Villanova University School of Law, J.D., 1986.
Drexel University, M.S. Taxation, 1983.
Temple University, B.B.A., 1981.
Contact
(302) 576-9600 Ext. 12
(302) 576-9608 Fax
100 South Rockland Falls Road
P. O. Box 4175
Wilmington, DE 19807