Widener Law welcomes students from 22 law schools around the country for a national interscholastic moot court competition beginning Thursday, March 17. The much-anticipated 23rd annual Ruby R. Vale Interschool Corporate Moot Court Competition runs four days on the school’s Delaware campus. The competition introduces participants to the cutting edge of corporate law, an experience Widener is uniquely positioned to provide as Delaware’s law school. The school draws on the resources of its Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law, and on the depth of the state’s distinguished corporate legal community, to provide an unparalleled experience for the law students who travel here to compete. The event is hosted by Widener Law’s Moot Court Honor Society under the direction of the society’s executive board and competition chairperson Sean McMonagle.The Distinguished Scholar Lecture is an integral part of the competition and the society is honored to have as this year’s speaker William Bratton, professor and co-director of the Institute For Law and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He will deliver a speech titled, “The Case Against Shareholder Empowerment (and In Favor of Delaware Law),” on Friday, March 18 at 4 p.m. in the Ruby R. Vale Moot Courtroom in the Main Law Building. Bratton is an internationally recognized author on business law topics. He is a research associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute. In 2009, he was installed as the Anton Philips Professor at the Faculty of Law of Tilburg University in The Netherlands, the fifth American academic to hold the chair.Widener Law Associate Professor Paul L. Regan, acting director of the Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law, serves as advisor to the competition. He authored this year’s competition problem. It explores whether the board of directors of a Delaware corporation, acting without a shareholder vote, can validly adopt a bylaw that requires all shareholder litigation against the directors to be brought exclusively in the Delaware Court of Chancery.“The combination of support from Delaware's legal community and Widener Law professors allows the Ruby R. Vale Interschool Corporate Moot Court Competition to be a tremendous success year after year,” said McMonagle. “Not only does it bring students in from law schools all over the country, but Widener's own students give generously of their time to help the competition run smoothly. We are honored to provide this competition in Mr. Vale's memory.”All are welcome to attend the final round of competition, which begins at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 20 in the Ruby R. Vale Moot Courtroom. The final round judges include Bratton, Delaware Supreme Court Justices Jack B. Jacobs and Henry duPont Ridgely and Delaware Court of Chancery Vice Chancellors John W. Noble and J. Travis Laster. The competition is named for Ruby R. Vale, who lived in Milford, Del. and practiced law in Philadelphia. He was a well-respected corporate practitioner and a prolific writer who penned law review articles, books about legal philosophy, justice and the foundations of society. He is best remembered for his multi-volume work, “Vale's Pennsylvania Digest.” Vale died in 1961. The law school is grateful to the Vale family and for the opportunities their generosity has made possible, such as this national competition.Widener is pleased to welcome competitors from the following schools for this year’s event:
American University, Washington College of Law
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Brooklyn Law School
Capital University Law School
DePaul University College of Law
Florida State University School of Law
Georgetown Law Center
Howard University School of Law
Louisiana State University
Marquette University
Mississippi College School of Law
University of New Hampshire School of Law
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Rutgers School of Law - Camden
Southwestern Law School
University of Miami School of Law
University of Toledo College of Law
Tulane University Law School
Western State University College of Law
William &amp; Mary Marshall Wythe School of Law
William Mitchell College of Law
University of Las Vegas – William S. Boyd School of Law

