Practice Areas
Trust and estate planning, administration, and litigation.
Delaware business law:
- Delaware incorporation and LLC formation,
- Business succession planning,
- Contract drafting and negotiation,
- Corporate governance,
- General Counsel,
- Business partner separation disputes,
- Delaware LLC opinion letters for United States real estate transactions, and
- Business litigation regarding valuation, mismanagement, and obtaining records;
- Nationally recognized on Delaware Series LLC law; and
- Corporate bankruptcy adversary proceedings, defending voidable preference claims.
Representative Cases/Clients
- Favorable post-trial settlement after a 4-day trial in the Court of Chancery. This case analyzed Delaware corporate law on issues such as breaches of fiduciary duty and business valuation.
- Represented:
- Medical device company,
- Newspaper publisher,
- Large equipment manufacturer,
- Mining equipment repair company,
- Former professional athlete,
- Famous musicians,
- Food processing company,
- Scientific instrument company,
- Executives,
- Medical Doctors,
- Certified Professional Accountants,
- Mobile App businesses,
- Film Producers,
- Entrepreneurs, and
- Non-profits.
Professional Affiliations
- President of Agents and Corporations, Inc., a Delaware incorporation and registered agent service that serves 16,000 Delaware LLCs and Delaware corporations under management, including Pinterest, Inc.
- ABA Advisor to National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (ULC) on the Series of Unincorporated Business Entities Act Drafting Committee (Uniform Series LLC Act).
- Chair of American Bar Association’s Committee on Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies in the Special Investors and Investment Structure Group of the Real Property, Trusts and Estates Section.
- Barrister Member of Richard S. Rodney Inn of Court.
Civic Engagements
- Vice President, Wilmington Rowing Center.
- Appointed by Governors Minner, Markell, and Carney to the Delaware Natural Areas Advisory Council. Previous chairman. Previously served on Delaware State Parks Council.
- Head Coach, University of Delaware Men’s Club Crew (See News Journal article “The Oars of Justice” from November 11, 2003).
- President, One Commerce Center Condo Council, which manages an 11-story commercial office building.
- Founder, Christina Navy Ltd., an entity that promotes boating safety.
- Membership Chair and Chancellor, Society of Colonial Wars, Delaware Chapter, including duties as state genealogist and state registrar.
- YMCA of Delaware – Chair of Downtown Branch & Board Member of Statewide Association.
- President, Christina Conservancy.
- Vice Chair, 18th Representative District Committee of Delaware.
- Former Director, Delaware Founders Initiative.
- Former Director, Wilmington Youth Rowing Association.
- Former Council Member, Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation.
- Former Chairman, Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.
- Honorary Commander of Delaware National Guard
Presentations & Contributions
- Expert witness on Series LLC for Northern Frac Proppants, LLC et al. v. Regions Bank, NA, et al. US District Court for Middle District Louisiana 2021
- Presented Stafford Webinar: “Series LLCs: Selected Federal Tax Issues” on April 24, 2019
- Expert witness in multimillion-dollar AAA Arbitration in Chicago involving Series LLC and options on oil sand land, February 2019
- Presented at the ABA Business Law Section’s LLC Institute: “Charging Orders.” October 12, 2018
- Expert witness in Symphony FS Limited v. Thompson in the U.S. Federal Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania involving Series LLC and cryptocurrency
- Presented at the ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting: “Drafting Series LLC Provisions Under the Delaware, Texas, and Uniform Acts” on September 13, 2018
- Expert witness in New York Supreme Court case involving a Delaware Series LLC, May 2018
- Presented to the Wilmington Tax Group – “Navigating the Delaware Series LLC” on October 17, 2017
- Presented to TEDxWilmington: “Series LLC: Not Your Average Business Entity.” August, 2017
- Presented to the Delaware State Bar Association on panel: “Starting a Law Practice: and so the Adventure Begins! – Your Entity of Choice and Your Business Plan.” January 24, 2017
- Presented to Goldey-Beacom College MBA class; “How to Avoid Common Legal Mistakes When Starting a Business: Entrepreneurship & Law.” December 7, 2016
- Presented National Business Institute (“NBI”) national teleconference: “Series LLCs: Drafting Operating Agreements” October 24, 2016
- Presented National CLE webinar for ABA’s RPTE Group: “Operating Agreements Today: The Foundation to Avoid Controversy Tomorrow – Commercial Real Estate Fundamentals 2.0.” March 23, 2016
- Presented to University of Delaware Horn Entrepreneurship Program “How to Avoid Common Legal Mistakes When Starting a Business: Entrepreneurship & Law” on October 28, 2015
- Presented National CLE webinar for NBI on Series LLCs: Drafting Operating Agreements, August 12, 2015
- Panelist on CLE seminar presented at the ABA’s RPTE Group Symposia on Drafting LLC Agreements for Real Estate Transactions, May 1, 2015
- Presented to the Delaware Real Estate Investor’s Association (DelREIA) on the use of Series LLC in real estate investments, June 2014
- Presented National CLE webinar for Stafford Publications on Delaware LLC Agreements: Planning and Drafting Approaches, November 25, 2013
- Presented Sterling Education Seminar (“SES”) on “Elder Law Planning for Incapacity: Health Care Issues.” September 11, 2013
- Presented National Hot Topics call for the ABA’s RPTE Group on the Delaware Series LLC, May 14, 2013
- Presented NBI Seminar: “Advanced LLC Issues: The New ‘Series’ LLCs”, December 19, 2011
- Presented SES Seminar: “Estate Planning Update: Using Gifts and Trusts for Wealth Transfers.” September 7, 2011
- Interviewed by China Business News and Xinhua News Agency (Official China News), June 2011
- Presented to The Richard S. Rodney American Inn of Court – “Technology in the Courtroom.” 2011
- Presented NBI Seminar: “Limited Liability Companies: Advantageous Uses of LLCs.” December 14, 2010
- Interviewed by Swiss National Public Television www.srgssr.ch (regarding Delaware corporate and LLC law’s international advantages) for an entrepreneurial program broadcast throughout German-speaking Europe, 2010
- Presented NBI Seminar: “LLCs: From Formation to Special Uses.” March 13, 2009
- Presented an in-house continuing professional education seminar to Gunnip & Company LLP (Certified Public Accounting firm) on LLC law in Delaware, circa 2009
- Presented “Intellectual Property and Choice of Entity” seminar, organized by the Small Business Administration (Delaware), 2009
- Expert witness for the Alaska Office of Public Advocacy in litigation involving a Delaware Series LLC, which owned 40 parcels of real estate (Genesis Properties LLC vs. McDowell). Circa 2008
- Guest lectured for senior seminar on small business at the University of Delaware: 2006, 2007, & 2008.
- Presented NBI Seminar: “LLC Trends and Developments: Special Uses.” September 27, 2007
- Presented on panel of Delaware Trust Conference on “Series LLC,” sponsored by Delaware Bankers Association. Circa 2006
- Trained advisors on “Choice of Entity” at the Delaware Small Business Development Center. Circa 2006
- Interviewed regarding international foreign money judgment recognition by Delaware Law Weekly, 2005
Publications
- Delaware Business Magazine, “The Cost of Corporate Transparency” – Article Author (May/June 2023)
- Authored ABA Article: “South Dakota Enacts Series LLC Legislation.”
- Yahoo, “IncNow Named a ‘Best For the World’ B Corp for Excellence Beyond Profit” (July 13,2022)
- Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, “New U.S. Law Battles Corporate Secrecy, Money Laundering” (July 11, 2022)
- Technically/Delaware, “What ever happened to the Delaware Blockchain Initiative?” (March 2022)
- ESG in the Boardroom: A Guidebook for Directors – Chapter 19 Operations Management, Supply Chain, Employees, Customers; Chapter author with Matt Dochnal and Ryan Jornlin (2022)
- Tower Hill School Bulletin; Community Engagement: John Williams ’94 Involved with Wilmington-Area Nonprofits” (Fall 2021)
- ABA Charging Order Panel; Panelist with Jay Adkinson on “Enforcing Judgements With Charging Orders: Redirecting Partnership and LLC Profits to Judgement Creditors” hosted by Stafford Publications September 29, 2021.
- Town Square Live, “Grant will help make Christina River fishable, swimmable in a generation” (September 14, 2020)
- Technically/Delaware, “RealList Connectors: Meet the 75 leaders building Delaware’s innovation community” (May 28,2020)
- Innovation Delaware, “Delaware’s landscape of corporate services, legal experts is second to none” (2019/2020)
- Technically/Delaware, “What is Delaware’s next big thing? Our stakeholders have spoken: These are the trends to watch for in Delaware.” (August 13, 2019)
- Technically/Delaware, “IncNow is Delaware’s first B Corporation” (Jul. 16, 2019)
- Delaware Business Times, “Proposed U.S. Corporate Transparency Act being watched by state’s LLC community” (July 8, 2019)
- Technically/Delaware, How a passion for rowing shapes IncNow’s office culture (May 9, 2019)
- ABA Publication, The Charging Orders Practice Guide – Contributor (2018)
- Delaware Business Times: 2018 Family-Owned Business award winners (June 21, 2018)
- Delaware Business Magazine, “To B or Not to B: B-Corporations Do Well by Doing Good” – Article Author (May/June 2016)
- The News Journal, “Delaware’s entrepreneurs learn to turn dreams into reality” (Dec. 2, 2016)
- Technically/Delaware: You’ll soon be able to incorporate your business at a Delaware library (October 6, 2016)
- The News Journal: Delaware libraries to add online incorporation service (October 5, 2016)
- ABA’s Real Property, Trust and Estates Group (RPTE) publication, Probate & Property, co-author of: “Zuckerbergs chose Delaware-based LLC for Chan Zuckerberg Initiative” by the Delaware Business Times
- Authored: “Rural Metro: Gulping Advisors and Practitioner Guidance” article in the ABA’s Business Law Today periodical, January 2016
- Quoted in June 9, 2008 article on “State-Federal Tussle on Beneficial Owners” by Compliance Weekly
