Brian D. Doerner

Mr. Doerner is partner at the firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll in the Philadelphia office.  He is chairman of the Business & Finance Department and a member of the Biotechnology/Life Sciences Group, Mergers and Acquisitions Group, Securities Group, Technology and Emerging Companies Group, and International Group.

Prior to joining Ballard Spahr in 1988, he served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable James L. Latchum, Senior Judge for the United States District Court for the State of Delaware.  Mr. Doerner is on the Board of the People’s Light and Theater Company, a leading regional theater that also sponsors award-winning educational programs. For the past six years, he has also been an officer and director of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, an organization that provides entrepreneurs with resources to start and grow their businesses.

Education:

Mr. Doerner is a graduate of the University of Delaware (B.A., magna cum laude, 1980), the University of Michigan (M.B.A., with honors, 1982), where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, and the University of Pennsylvania (J.D., cum laude, 1987), where he was an editor of the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.

Marc S. Casarino

Mr. Casarino is an associate in the Business Department at White and Williams, LLP in Wilmington, DE. He focuses on commercial litigation matters involving creditors' rights, banking law, insurance disputes, and employment issues.

Mr. Casarino represents creditors and financial institutions in various banking and insolvency matters. He also represents both national and regional insurers in coverage disputes and defends insured clients under third-party liability policies. Mr. Casarino further provides legal counsel to both publicly and privately held businesses, including educational institutions, financial institutions and contractors.

Mr. Casarino received his B.S. from the University of Delaware in 1994 and his J.D. in 1997 from the Widener University School of Law. Licensed to practice in all Delaware State Courts, Mr. Casarino is also admitted to appear before the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mr. Casarino is a member of the Delaware Bar Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Daniel P. Conneen

Education:

B.S., magna cum laude, 1990, University of Delaware
J.D., 1993, Syracuse University School of Law

Admissions to Practice:

Delaware, 1994
United States District Court for the District of Delaware, 1994
Pennsylvania, 1997

Legal Practice:

Dan has practiced law at major law firms in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York in the fields of banking law, corporate governance and finance, mergers and acquisitions, international finance, and structured and public finance, and has negotiated and documented numerous transactions involving cross-collateralized mortgage pool structures, tax-exempt and taxable bond issuances, and syndicated revolving credit facilities.  Mr. Conneen is currently the Managing Member and Director of Asia-America Holdings, LLC, which provides investment and employment based immigration and business development services in the United States, and, through its strategic partners and affiliates in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China, specializes in cross-border transactions and business development and investment in the Asia-Pacific region.

Dona Culver

Education:

B.A., magna cum laude, 1988, University of Delaware
J.D., cum laude, 1991, Boston University

Legal Practice:

Donna is a partner in the the Wilmington law firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, where she is a member of the Bankruptcy Litigation and General Business Litigation Groups. Donna's practice is concentrated in the areas of general, commercial and bankruptcy litigation with an emphasis on the representation of debtors and creditors in adversary proceedings and other contested matters.

Professional and Community Activities:

Donna is a member of the Delaware and American Bar Associations and is an associate member of the Board of Bar Examiners of the State of Delaware.

James Honaker

Education:

B.A., 1999, University of Delaware
J.D., 2002, University of Virginia
Law Clerk to the Honorable E. Norman Veasey, Delaware Supreme Court, 2002-2003
Virginia Tax Review, Executive Editor, 2001-2002.

Legal Practice:

Jim is an associate in the Wilmington law firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, where he is a member of the Corporation Law Counseling Group.

William Lafferty

Education:

B.S., B.A., University of Delaware, 1985
J.D., The Dickinson School of Law, 1989
Articles Editor, Dickinson Law Review, 1988-89
Law Clerk to The Honorable Maurice A. Hartnett, III, Delaware Court of Chancery

Legal Practice:

Mr. Lafferty is a partner in the Corporate Litigation Group at the Wilmington law firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell. Bill's practice involves corporate and commercial litigation, with an emphasis on cases involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy contests and consent solicitations, and shareholder class and derivative actions. Bill's litigation practice is concentrated on cases pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery and Supreme Court. Bill also advises corporate clients and boards of directors with respect to litigation and transactional matters.

Professional and Community Activities:

Mr. Lafferty is a member of the Delaware State Bar Association's Corporation Law Section and Committee on Professional Ethics. Bill recently was appointed by the Delaware Supreme Court to a three-year term on the Board of Bar Examiners. He also is a member of the American Bar Association Business Law Section Committee on Business and Corporate Litigation.

Michael Meloy

Education:

Mr. Meloy earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering, summa cum laude, from the University of Delaware in 1980. He was the recipient of both a Tau Beta Pi National Fellowship and a Phi Kappa Phi National Fellowship in 1980. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1983 after graduating cum laude from Harvard Law School. During 1984 and 1985, he clerked for the Honorable Walter K. Stapleton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Membership:

Mr. Meloy is a member of the Delaware Basin Regional Water Resources Committee. He chairs the Agricultural Law Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is a member of the Environment, Energy and Resources Section of the American Bar Association, the Environmental, Mineral and Natural Resources Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Environmental Law Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He serves on the Pennsylvania Cleanup Standards Scientific Advisory Board’s Safe Fill Committee and the Environmental Affairs Committee for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. He is also the chair of the Pennsylvania Chamber’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee and serves as a member on the Pennsylvania Chamber’s Water Task Force.

Professional and Community Activities:

Michael M. Meloy is a partner at Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP, a law firm concentrating in environmental and land use law. Mr. Meloy brings both a legal and engineering background to bear in representing clients in connection with a broad spectrum of environmental litigation, regulatory and transactional issues. He has been actively involved in numerous redevelopment and remediation projects, the development and implementation of waste management programs in Pennsylvania, environmental auditing of facilities and operations, and the development of comprehensive water planning legislation for Pennsylvania. He has also handled matters involving health and safety issues arising under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. He recently authored An Overview of Nutrient Management Requirements in Pennsylvania, 10 PENN STATE ENVTL. L. REV. 249 (2002), and also authored Disclosure of Environmental Liability in SEC Filings, Financial Statements, and Debt Instruments, 5 VILL. ENVTL. L.J. 315 (1994).

Mark S. Stewart

Education:

University of Delaware B.A. 1978
University of Pennsylvania Law School J.D. 1982
London School of Economics G.C. 1977

Membership:

Mr. Stewart serves as Director of the Jefferson Hospital Philadelphia Distance Run, a world class half-marathon that is run each September in Philadelphia. He is a member of the Board of Project Forward Leap. He is also President of the Board of the Swarthmore Recreation Association and a Trustee of the Swarthmore United Methodist Church.

Professional and Community Activities:

Mark S. Stewart is a partner in the Litigation Department in the Philadelphia law firm of Ballard Sphar Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. His practice is concentrated in commercial litigation including securities, antitrust, contract disputes, and product liability. Prior to joining the firm, he served as a judicial clerk to Justice Sydney Schreiber of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Mr. Stewart is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D. 1982). Mr. Stewart is a 1978 graduate of the University of Delaware, earning a degree in political science with distinction and highest honors. He was the recipient of the 1978 Alexander J. Taylor Award, given annually to the outstanding male graduate.

Patricia Vella

Education:

B.S., magna cum laude, 1992, University of Delaware
J.D., magna cum laude, 1996, Villanova University
Member, 1994-1995 and Executive Editor, 1995-1996, Villanova Law Review
Law Clerk to The Honorable Randy J. Holland, Delaware Supreme Court

Legal Practice:

Ms. Vella is special counsel in the Wilmington law firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, where she is a member of the Corporation Law Counseling Group. Tricia's practice is concentrated on giving advice on the Delaware General Corporation Law.

Professional and Community Activities:

Tricia is a member of the Delaware and American Bar Association.

Jeffrey Wolters

Education:

B.A., magna cum laude, 1988, University of Delaware
J.D., 1992, University of Virginia
Law Clerk to The Honorable Walter K. Stapleton, Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
Member, 1990-1991 and Articles Editor, 1991-1992, Virginia Law Review

Legal Practice:

Jeff is a partner in the Corporation Law Counseling Group at the Wilmington law firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, where he specializes in providing advice on corporate transactions. Jeff's work often involves counseling strategic and financial investors, boards of directors and board committees, including special committees appointed to negotiate mergers or other significant transactions such as those in which directors or large stockholders have an interest.

Professional and Community Activities:

Jeff's recent work includes advising the board of Williams Communications Group on corporate and fiduciary issues in the company's bankruptcy; advising a special committee of the board of Corvis Corp. in Corvis' acquisition of Dorsal Networks; advising the board of Galileo International in its $3 billion transaction with Cendant; advising Ford Motor Company in its acquisition of Hertz; and advising a special committee of the board of Peapod, Inc. regarding a going-private transaction with its parent company, Royal Ahold, N.V. Jeff also has extensive experience advising non-stock entities such as stock exchanges and trade associations. His work often includes providing formal legal opinions on issues of Delaware corporate law and related matters.Jeff's practice provides advice and legal opinions on corporate transactions and related litigation matters.

F. Peter Conaty, Jr.

Education:

University of Delaware, B.S.A.C., 1989

Temple University School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1992; Georgetown University Law School, LL.M, Taxation, with distinction, 200


Legal Practice:

Estate Planning; Probate; Taxation; Tax Planning; Wealth Preservation; Tax Law

Memberships:

Delaware State (Member, Estates and Trust Section) and American Bar

Associations; Estate Planning Council of Delaware.

Biography:

Beta Alpha Psi. Former Director and Associate, Tax Section, Prickett,

Jones and Elliott, P.A.

Leonard P. Stark

Education:

Leonard P. Stark is a graduate of the University of Delaware (1991).  He received a bachelor's degree with honors in political science, a bachelor's degree with distinction in economics with a minor in women's studies and a master's degree in European medieval and early modern history.

Biography:

Leonard P. Stark is assistant U.S. attorney for the district of Delaware, Wilmington.  He is an adjunct professor at the University, the president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and a member of scholarship committee. He also serves as secretary of the Delaware Rhodes Scholarship selection committee. In 2004, he was named a recipient of the UD Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement, an award which honors UD graduates of the last 20 years who exhibit great promise in their professional career and/or public service activities.  Stark, who became UD's eighth Rhodes Scholar, earned his Ph.D. at Oxford University in England and received his law degree from the Yale Law School in 1996. He is the author of the book, Choosing a Leader: Party Leadership Contests in Britain from Macmillan to Blair, as well as several articles in law and academic journals. He was guest speaker at the University of Delaware's Winter Commencement on January 6, 2007.

In 2002, Stark was appointed assistant U.S. attorney for the district of Delaware. His responsibilities include criminal and civil litigation, from investigative and grand jury phase through trial and appellate court proceedings. Prior to his appointment, Stark worked as an associate with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in Wilmington.

Judge E. Scott Bradley

Education:

Judge Bradley received his B.S. magna cum laude in Accounting from the University of Delaware in 1980 and his J.D. magna cum laude from the Widener University School of Law in 1987.
 

Biography:

The Honorable E. Scott Bradley became a Judge of the Superior Court of Delaware on April 7, 2000. 

From 1980 until 1984 he was an Accounting Analyst with DuPont. He was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1987 and until his appointment to Superior Court was a partner with the law firm of Young Conaway Stargatt and Taylor, LLP in Georgetown, Delaware. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Delaware State Bar Association, the Sussex County Bar Association, and the Terry-Carey American Inn of Court. Judge Bradley's present term ends April 7, 2012.

Casey Lynne Ewart

Education:

B.A., Summa cum laude, 2003, University of Delaware
J.D., 2006, College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law

Admissions to Practice:

Delaware
United States District Court for the District of Delaware


Biography:

While at William & Mary, Casey served as the Executive Editor of the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, and was actively involved with the school’s Institute of Bill of Rights Law.  Her student note, “Use of the Drug Pavulon in Lethal Injections: Cruel and Unusual?” was published in Volume 14, Issue 3 of the Bill of Rights Journal.  Casey spent the summer of 2005 as summer law clerk with the Delaware Department of Justice’s Sussex County office.  In August 2006, Casey began a year-long clerkship in the chambers of the Honorable Sue L. Robinson, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

Claire M. DeMatties

Education:

B.A., 1987, University of Delaware
J.D., 1993, Widener University School of Law

Admissions to Practice:

United States Supreme Court
United States District Court for the District of Delaware


Biography:

Claire DeMatte is co-chair of the Government & Public Affairs Practice Group and chair of the Gaming Practice Group at Stradley Ronan Stevens & Young, LLP.  Ms. DeMatte specializing in legislative and regulatory lobbying and serves as director of Stradley Ronon's Delaware office.

Prior to joining Stradley Ronon, Ms. DeMatteis served as senior counsel to U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former chairman and 30-year member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and sixth highest in seniority in the U.S. Senate.  As senior counsel, Ms. DeMatteis coordinated Sen. Biden's public policy positions and activities between his Washington, D.C., and Delaware offices.  Prior to joining Sen. Biden's staff, she served as assistant legal counsel to former Delaware Gov. Michael N. Castle. In addition, Ms. DeMatteis served as a legislative aide for the Delaware General Assembly.

DeMatties is an adjunct professor at the University of Delaware, teaching constitutional law, and at Widener University School of Law, where she wrote, researched and teaches a seminar on the “Intersection of Law and Politics.” She is a former television reporter and weekend anchor for WBOC-TV, a CBS-affiliate in Salisbury, Md., and Dover, Del.