Page 24 - Innovation Delaware 2019

SUPPORTING
Innovation
Delaware’s landscape of corporate services, legal experts is second to none.
BY PAM GEORGE
In 1899, Delaware enacted the General Corporation Law, which simplified the process of incorporation and granted certain tax advantages to legal entities. Along with the state’s Chancery Court, which hears business- related cases, the law made Delaware an attractive place in which to incorporate.
Josiah P. Marvel, an attorney who helped write the law, spotted an opportunity.
He and colleague Christopher Ward founded Corporation Service Co. to help companies incorporate in the state.
22 DelawareBusinessTimes.com
More than 100 years later, Corporation Service Co. — now branded as CSC — still helps corporations with legal and compliance matters. But it also has a host of other business-related services, including business lines related to taxes, data storage and online brands.
CSC isn’t the only one upholding Delaware’s business-friendly legacy. Over the years, Delaware’s legislature has adapted to changing business needs, says Doneene Keemer Damon, executive vice president and director of the firm
Richards, Layton & Finger.
For example, she points to the 2017
creation of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP), a public-private entity that recruits and retains businesses, including early-stage technology-based ventures and large employers. DPP works with employers and educational institutions to build and keep a talented workforce in Delaware, says Damon, who along with Gov. John Carney is on the board of directors. (DPP replaced the public Delaware Economic Development Office.)