William Chandler

Practice Areas

Former Chancellor William B. Chandler III is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he advises both public and private clients in connection with corporate governance matters, special committee assignments, internal investigations, and merger and acquisition transactions. He previously served on the firm's Policy Committee.

Mr. Chandler joined the firm from the Delaware Court of Chancery, the nation's leading court for corporate law cases, particularly those relating to change of control and other corporate law issues. He was appointed Chancellor in 1997, after serving as Vice Chancellor since 1989. Widely regarded as one of the country's most influential judges on issues of corporate law and governance, he issued more than a thousand opinions and presided over some of the most contentious and high-profile corporate law disputes in the country, including those involving The Walt Disney Company, Yahoo, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, eBay, Citigroup, Dow Chemical, and, most recently, the Air Products/Airgas dispute. Many of his rulings have become required reading for M&A and business law practitioners, and he has written and lectured widely on numerous critical corporate law issues.