Originally featured in the Sept. 10 issue of the Delaware Law Weekly

By: Ellisa Opstbaum Habbart, Esq.
Partner, The Delaware Counsel Group LLP
&
Thomas E. Rutledge, Esq.
Member, Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC

Recent Court Decisions - July 2008

The Delaware Counsel Group LLP and its attorneys have been published and interviewed on various topics regarding Delaware corporate law.

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• Alternative Business Entities
  
• Business Development
  
• Corporate Legal Issues
  
• Court Decision Alerts
  
• Statutory Trust
  
• Legislative Amendments
  
• Real Estate Finance

The Delaware legislature has amended Delaware’s business statutes.

Delaware Counsel Group Lawyer Presents at
Third Annual Symposium on the Law Delaware Business Entities

The merger of MBNA Corp. into Bank of America Corp., completed Jan. 1, has been a process of high impact and drama in Delaware that has many worried about job losses and was certainly a factor when the state’s lawmakers managed to change the banking tax structure in scarcely more than an hour.

The Delaware Secretary of State hosts quarterly meetings each year for all authorized Delaware registered agents. The firm’s Corporations and Alternative Business Entities Analyst, Judith T. Kaiser, routinely attends these meetings and learns valuable updates regarding the Division of Corporations.

In a competitive market, rainmakers are vital. They no longer belong to an exclusive club, though, as law firms teach all solicitors to develop their business, reports Stephen Ward.

‘When people think of a rainmaker, they probably think of an extrovert who walks into a room of 2,000 people and works that room,’ says Kevin Doolan, head of business development at national firm Eversheds. Others see it as the pre-eminent lawyer in any field whom clients want immediately to hand. The rainmaker is part of a team, but personifies the virtues of a department or a firm.

Ms. Habbart recently moderated and coordinated a program on real estate investment trusts, entitled "REITS: Battle of the Boundaries." Panelists included Carol Miller of CNL Financial Group, Inc., a Florida-based company that has both listed REITS and a number of non-listed REITS; Norbert Seifert, the former general counsel of a listed REIT from its initial IPO to its ultimate merger; Randall Parks, a partner with Hunton and Williams who practices law out of Virginia; and Sharon Kroupa, a partner with the Maryland office of Venable. Excerpts of that program follow.