<p>Widener University Delaware Law School is pleased to announce <a href="http://www.law.columbia.edu/fac/Jeffrey_Gordon">Jeffrey N. Gordon</a>, the Richard Paul Richman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, will deliver the 2015 annual Francis G. Pileggi Distinguished Lecture in Law.<br /><br />The media is invited to cover Gordon&rsquo;s lecture, &ldquo;Shareholder Activism: The Triumph of Delaware&rsquo;s Board-Centered Model and the New Role for the Board of Directors,&rdquo; on Friday, Oct. 16 in the Green Room of the Hotel du Pont at 11<sup>th</sup> and Market Streets in Wilmington.<br /><br />Gordon is expected to argue Delaware jurisprudence should embrace shareholder activism and reject the poison pill as a managerial defense measure against activist campaigns. He maintains the focus should be on broadening the role of directors as credible monitors and, if necessary, defenders of a firm&rsquo;s business strategy and chosen time horizon.<br /><br />He will give an encore version of the lecture to students at Delaware Law School at 11 a.m. in the Ruby R. Vale Moot Courtroom of the Main Law Building, 4601 Concord Pike. <strong>Reporters</strong><strong> interested in attending the lecture at the Hotel du Pont are asked to contact the Delaware Law Public Relations Office in advance so that we may anticipate your attendance for breakfast, which begins at 8 a.m. The talk at the hotel will run from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m.<br /><br /></strong>Gordon co-directs the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership as well as the Richman Center for Business, Law &amp; Public Policy. He is also a visiting professor at Oxford University and a fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute. He has written extensively on corporate law topics. His headshot is available <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/widenerlaw/21956556902/in/dateposted-public/">here.<br /><br /></a>The annual Pileggi lecture is presented by Delaware Law School and the <a href="ipl://565//W10=">Delaware Journal of Corporate Law</a>. The series has attracted many renowned speakers in the area of corporate law since the first Pileggi lecture in 1986. One continuing legal education credit is available to attorneys from Delaware and Pennsylvania who attend (no ethics). <br /><br />There is no cost to attend the breakfast or lecture. The event is made possible by the generosity of Francis G. Pileggi, a founding attorney of Pileggi &amp; Pileggi and father of Delaware Law alumnus Francis G.X. Pileggi, who conceived of the idea through a desire to create a corporate law forum for practitioners, judges and academics.<br /><br />Those interested in attending should register at <a href="ipl://678//W10=">DelawareLaw.Widener.edu/Pileggi2015.</a> For more information, contact Rose Callahan at 302.477.2014.<br /><br />Widener University is a metropolitan university that connects curricula to social issues through civic engagement. Dynamic teaching, active scholarship, personal attention, applied leadership, and experiential learning are key components of the Widener experience.&nbsp; Its Delaware Law School is the First State&rsquo;s only law school, providing juris doctor, legal graduate and paralegal degree programs with an emphasis on developing legal professionals who reflect the Delaware Way and its traditions of civility, integrity and mutual respect. The school offers signature programs in corporate and business law, environmental law, family health law and policy, and trial advocacy. Widener University is proud to be tobacco free. Visit delawarelaw.widener.edu for more information.&nbsp;</p>