Page 14 - Delaware Lawyer - Winter 2020

FEATURE
Views from the Bench
James H. S. Levine
This article was already underway when Vice Chancellor Paul A. Fioravanti, Jr. was confirmed to the Court by the Delaware Senate in January 2020. We congratulate Vice Chancellor Fioravanti and hope to catch up with him in a future issue.
Roundtable:
Getting to know two of the newest members of the Court of Chancery
One of the things that makes practicing in Delaware so unique is the willingness of our judges to make themselves available to members of the Bar. In that spirit, on January 22, 2020, I sat down with Vice Chancellors Morgan T. Zurn and Kathaleen S. McCormick, who shared their time and insight into their backgrounds and some of their views from the Bench.
12 DELAWARE LAWYER WINTER 2020
LEVINE: Thank you for taking the time this afternoon. Because not all of our readers may be familiar with your backgrounds, could each of you provide a bit about your experi- ence and path to the Bench?
McCORMICK: As many are aware, I began my career as a staff attorney with Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. — CLASI — but even before that, my studies focused on civil and human rights in law school. I actually took a single business course. And I never foresaw that my career would lead here, but fortunately it did.
Financial considerations propelled me into private practice after the birth of my second child, and I eventually joined Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor. At the time I entered private practice, I felt de- feated, to be honest, because I desired to
pursue a service-oriented path. That feel- ing quickly changed at Young Conaway, where I found a community of wonderful colleagues who encouraged my growth. I developed a passion for Chancery work, and I was deeply grateful to find such a rich intellectual environment.
So my Chancery career was both acci- dental and fortuitous to some degree, but very rewarding, and when the opportu- nity to serve as Vice Chancellor opened, I was excited to take that passion to the next level.
ZURN: So, like Vice Chancellor McCor- mick, my path was accidental and fortu- itous. My undergraduate degree is in biol- ogy, and after law school, I went back to my hometown of St. Louis and worked at a firm there doing IP litigation and patent prosecution. I came back to the East Coast