E. Norman Veasey is a senior partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges and serves as a strategic adviser to the firm’s roster of prominent global clients on a wide range of issues related to mergers & acquisitions, restructuring and litigation. Additionally, he advises on corporate governance issues involving the responsibilities of corporate directors in complex financial transactions and crisis management.
Chief Justice Veasey is the former chief justice of Delaware, having stepped down from the Delaware Supreme Court in May 2004, after serving a 12-year term as the top judicial officer and administrator of that state’s judicial branch. During his tenure as chief justice, the US Chamber of Commerce ranked Delaware’s courts first in the nation for three consecutive years for their fair, reasonable and efficient litigation environment. Chief Justice Veasey has also been credited with leading nationwide programs to restore professionalism to the practice of law and adopt best practices in the running of America’s courts. He was awarded the Order of the First State by Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner, the highest honor for meritorious service the state’s governor can grant.
Chief Justice Veasey was president of the Conference of Chief Justices, chair of the Board of the National Center for State Courts, chair of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association and chair of the American Bar Association’s Special Committee on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (Ethics 2000). He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and immediate past chair of the Committee on Corporate Laws of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association.
During 1992-93 he was the editor of Volume 48 of The Business Lawyer, the scholarly legal journal published by the Section of Business Law of the ABA.
From 1957 until he took office as chief justice in 1992, Chief Justice Veasey practiced law with the Wilmington, Delaware, law firm of Richards, Layton and Finger, where he concentrated on business law, corporate transactions, litigation and counseling. He served at various times as managing partner and the chief executive officer of the firm. During 1961-63, he was deputy attorney general and chief deputy attorney of the State of Delaware. In 1982-83, he was president of the Delaware State Bar Association.
Chief Justice Veasey is a director of the Institute for Law and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the American Law Institute, the International Advisory Board of the Centre for Corporate Law and Securities Regulation and numerous other professional organizations. He is a frequent panelist and lecturer on the corporation law, corporate governance, ethics and professionalism. He is an Adjunct Professor at both the University of Virginia School of Law and Wake Forest University School of Law.