Bio

Former Chancellor William 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 has been recognized in the 2021-2024 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for his extensive experience with the Delaware Court of Chancery, where he served as Chancellor, and sources remark he is “a legend in the field” with a “very strong reputation around Wilmington." 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.