Francis G. Pileggi Distinguished Lecture In Law The Journal hosts the Annual Francis G. Pileggi Distinguished Lecture in Law. This lecture series, held in Wilmington, Delaware, is presented to the Delaware Bench and Bar and focuses on developing issues in the area of corporate law. The lecturer is always a leading voice in the field of corporation law, and the lecture provides the Delaware Bar, particularly the members of the bench on both the Court of Chancery and the Supreme Court, an opportunity to challenge academia with practical concerns. THIS YEAR: THE DELAWARE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE LAW WELCOMES PROFESSOR JOSEPH A. GRUNDFEST THE 2010-2011 FRANCIS G. PILEGGI DISTINGUISHED LECTURER IN LAW. October 8, 2010 - The Hotel du Pont, Wilmington, DE   TOPIC: Choice of Forum in Intracorporate Litigation   ABSTRACT: State courts have a comparative advantage in the interpretation of their own state laws. California, New York, Illinois, and Alaska courts can, respectively, be relied upon to interpret their own state laws more authentically than courts located in other jurisdictions. Indeed, consumers of state law can rationally be viewed as expressing a preference for a joint product: California law as interpreted by California courts, rather than California law as interpreted by Estonian, Latvian, or Lithuanian courts, to pick but three Baltic examples. Forum contests do, however, commonly emerge in intracorporate litigation when plaintiff counsel file derivative actions in the corporation's headquarters state as well as in the corporation's state of incorporation. In this lecture, I suggest that corporations can address the potential for forum disputes in intracorporate litigation by adopting choice of forum clauses in indemnification agreements with corporate directors and other senior corporate executives, that identify the forum as the state of incorporation, and where intracorporate litigation is defined to include derivative actions and all other actions governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Charter amendments and by-law provisions can achieve the same result, but may, as a technical matter, be more difficult to implement. Simply put, a choice of forum clause in an indemnification agreement in which the forum state is also the state of incorporation may be the simplest means of avoiding expensive and unnecessary jurisdictional battles over the locus of intracorporate litigation. BIOGRAPHY: Professor Grundfest is the William A. Franke Professor of Law and Business at Stanford Law School, and co-director of the Rock Center on Corporate Governance at Stanford University.  He is a nationally prominent expert on capital markets, corporate governance, and securities litigation. His scholarship has been published in the Harvard, Yale, and Stanford law reviews, and he has been recognized as one of the most influential attorneys in the United States.   While at Stanford, Professor Grundfest founded the award-winning Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, which provides detailed, online information about the prosecution, defense, and settlement of federal class action securities fraud litigation. He also launched Stanford Law School’s executive education programs and continues to co-direct Directors’ College, the nation’s leading venue for the continuing professional education of directors of publicly traded corporations. Before joining Stanford’s faculty in 1990, Professor Grundest was a Commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, where he dealt extensively with matters related to enforcement of federal securities laws, corporate governance, takeover regulation, market volatility, and internationalization of U.S. capital markets. Earlier in his career, he served on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors as counsel and senior economist for legal and regulatory matters, and was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. Professor Grundfest has also served as a research associate at the Brookings Institution, and an economist and consultant with the RAND Corporation. Professor Grundfest has taught course in securities regulation, corporate law, and venture capital. He has twice received the John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching as well as the Associated Students of Stanford University award as the best professor at the Stanford Law, Business, and Medical Schools. He holds a bachelors degree from Yale University, and a law degree from Stanford Law School, where he also completed all requirements for a Doctorate in Economics but for the dissertation.  He has been selected as a National Fellow by the Hoover Institution, awarded a John M. Olin Faculty Fellowship, and is an Adjunct Scholar of the American Enterprise Institute. Professor Grundfest is a co-founder and director of Financial Engines, Inc., and a director of KKR Management LLC. He is also chairman of the board nominating committee of the NASDAQ Stock Market, and was formerly a director of Oracle Corp. Past Pileggi Lecturers include: 2009-2010: Professor Edward Rock; 2008-2009: Professor Eric Talley 2007-2008: Professor Mark J. Roe 2006-2007: Professor Hillary A. Sale 2005-2006: Professor Stephen Bainbridge 2004-2005: Professor Melvin A. Eisenberg 2003-2004: Professor Robert B. Thompson 2002-2003: Dean Harry J. Haynsworth 2001-2002: Professor Lynn A. Stout 2000-2001: Professor Charles M. Elson 1999-2000: Professor Ronald J. Gilson 1998-1999: Professor Larry E. Ribstein 1997-1998: Dean Joel Seligman 1996-1997: Robert R. Keatinge, Esquire 1995-1996: Professor Donald D. Langevoort 1994-1995: Professor John C. Coffee, Jr. 1993-1994: The Honorable Henry R. Horsey 1992-1993: Professor Deborah A. DeMott 1991-1992: Professor Richard M. Buxbaum 1990-1991: Lawrence J. Bugge, Esquire1989-1990: A.A. Sommer, Jr., Esquire 1988-1989: Professor Harvey L. Pitt 1987-1988: Professor Louis Loss 1986-1987: The Honorable Ralph K. Winter, Jr. 1985-1986: Professor Robert W. Hamilton. .................................