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“From my standpoint, it was fascinating to see how the principles of corporate and judicial administration that have developed in Delaware over hundreds of years can be so valuable in an emerging economy like Colombia's, which is energetically seeking to modernize its legal infrastructure,” says Director of the <a href="/Academics/Institutes/InstituteofDelawareCorporateandBusinessLaw.aspx">Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law</a> and Ruby R. Vale Professor of Corporate and Business Law <a href="/Academics/Faculty/ProfilesDe/HamermeshLawrenceA.aspx">Lawrence A. Hamermesh</a>, who recently traveled to Columbia to speak at the invitation of the Superintendencia de Sociedades.<br><br>Responsible for regulating corporations in Colombia, the Superintendencia de Sociedades has been looking to experts from other countries as it looks to establish business court within the Superintendencia. Juan Miguel Mendoza Daza, Delegado para Procedimientos Mercantiles – who serves within the Superintendencia de Sociedades as the sole business court judge in Colombia – hosted the visit.<br><br>“Recognizing that efficient and sophisticated handling of business disputes is an important engine of economic development, the Superintendencia was anxious to learn about the operation of the Delaware Court of Chancery and the fiduciary doctrines it administers, particularly those relating to conflict of interest transactions between corporations and their controlling shareholders,” says Professor Hamermesh.<br><br>On February 27th, he spoke to officers of the Superintendencia and also to a broader group of business lawyers and academics in Bogota about the regulation of transactions involving controlling shareholders, and about the nature and operation of the Delaware Court of Chancery. The second talk was also webcast to Colombia's other major cities. On the 28th, he spoke to students and academics at Javieriana University in Bogota, about the new U.S. form of business entity known as benefit corporations.