Delaware Supreme Court Establishes Rules Facilitating Dismissal of Board Advisors from M&A Litigation

In recent years, entrepreneurial plaintiffs’ lawyers representing stockholders in litigation challenging mergers and acquisitions have increasingly asserted aiding and abetting claims against financial and other advisors to corporate boards of directors, perceiving the investment banks and law firms that serve in these roles as potential defendants with deep pockets.  This trend likely will reverse itself

Lessons Learned from the Staples/Office Depot Merger Challenge

Kathleen Mullen

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently granted the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) motion to preliminarily enjoin the merger of Staples and Office Depot, the country’s two largest brick-and-mortar retailers and distributors of office supplies.[1] The injunction caused the companies to abandon the merger. Background Interestingly, the FTC’s theory was not based