Page 30 - Delaware Lawyer - Fall 2019

FEATURE
Erin Daly
OF COUNSEL: Lawrence Hamermesh
Most people reading this know Larry Hamermesh as a litigator, involved in some of the most significant corporate
cases of the 1970s and 1980s. Or as their
professor in basic and advanced business
law courses at Delaware Law School. Or,
as he is known to many now, as a curator of
stories for the Delaware Oral History Proj-
ect. All important accomplishments, to be
sure. But the image of Larry that always
comes first to my mind is of him sitting on
the beach, feet in sand, looking out at the
waves with a serene smile on his face, and
talking about whatever comes to mind, with the most signifi- cant decision to make being whether to take the boogie board into the waves one more time before the sun goes down.
Larry is the archetype not only of practicing law, but of liv- ing, the “Delaware Way.” If you lined up the lawyers you know in terms of competence, mastery of the issues, and the ability to see right through a problem to the other side, he’d be there, near the top of the line. If you lined up all the lawyers in order of sheer civility and decency, he’d be near the top of the line. He is a favorite of the national media when they need someone to explain complex issues in a clear and fair way. He has a stel- lar reputation in the state and around the country not only for being a top-notch legal thinker, but for being a really nice guy. (I once met some corporate lawyers in Bogotà, Colombia who broke out in joyful smiles when they found out I knew him; they then proceeded to tell me how important his work has been to the development of their corporate governance law. I was a celebrity by association!)
And indeed, his work as a lawyer, as a scholar, as a teacher, and in all the other roles he has played in the corporate legal world, has been profoundly influential. After practicing 18 years at Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, he joined the Delaware Law faculty and became the Ruby R. Vale Professor of Cor- porate and Business Law and Director of the Institute of Dela- ware Corporate and Business Law. He was a visiting professor at Penn, Michigan and NYU, and served as Senior Special Coun- sel in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Division of Corpora- tion Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Larry has given his time generously. In practice, he volun- teered to assist Delaware Volunteer Legal Services, the Lawyer Referral Service Committee of the Delaware State Bar Associa- tion (DSBA) and the Delaware ACLU. He served on the Coun- cil of Corporation Law Section of the DSBA, the American Bar Association (ABA) Business Law Section, the Corporate Laws Committee and the ABA Task Force on Corporate Responsi- bility, among others. It has always been important to Larry to contribute to the profession. He is not in it to make money or to make a name for himself. He’s in it to help advance the law and
understanding of the law, and he has done that as a scholar, a litigator, a teacher, an administrator, and as an active collabora- tor on many projects where he has helped to shape the development of corporate law.
Yet beyond the value of his work, titles and accolades, I suspect that much of the joy Larry derives from these experiences comes from the friendships he has made along the way. Larry is by nature a collabo- rator. He seeks opportunities not only be- cause he believes in the value of the work, but because he wants to do that work with
others. Regarding his work on the Corporate Laws Commit- tee of the ABA, which drafted and revised the Model Business Corporation Act, Larry didn’t talk about how important the work was and certainly not about his own contribution; when asked about it in an ABA “Member Spotlight” last year, he said that to “be in the same room” with “many of the finest corpo- rate lawyers in the country, people of great intelligence, broad relevant experience” and “learn about what they encounter and what they think is a real privilege.” I’m sure they would say the same of being in the same room with him.
The academic life of a professor can be solitary. So Larry made it less solitary. He worked on committees within and outside the law school. He developed the country’s first and foremost corporate law moot-court competition, engaging the talents of the nation’s leading law students and Delaware’s finest members of the bench and bar. He worked and is working close- ly with students on the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law and developed a speakers’ series to bring Delaware luminaries to the law school. Now, in his role as Executive Director of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Law and Economics, he has, with Chief Justice Leo Strine and Professor Michael Wachter, created the Delaware Oral History Project, which connects him with many of the people who were involved in the leading cases of Delaware corporate law.
What is so striking about Larry’s experience, though, is how often he starts off as a member and ends up, often rather quick- ly, as chair, reporter, secretary, president, director and so on. It’s as if everyone instinctively knows, whatever the boat and wherever it’s going, it’s best to have Larry at the helm. This goes beyond corporate law. Larry served as President of the Delaware Civil Liberties Union and President of the Board of the Dela- ware Music School.
But to talk about Larry as nothing more than a worker bee is to do him a disservice. The extraordinary thing about him is that he can balance not only work and home life, but all the different parts of a life that bring joy and meaning. And to each
See Of Counsel continued on page 27
28 DELAWARE LAWYER FALL 2019