Richards, Layton & Finger Directors Elected as Fellows of the American College of Governance Counsel
April 21, 2015
Firm News| Corporate Transactions| Corporate & Chancery Litigation
WILMINGTON, Delaware (April 21, 2015) – Richards, Layton & Finger directors Gregory Varallo and Mark Gentile, and retired firm director R. Franklin Balotti, have been elected as Fellows of the American College of Governance Counsel, a newly founded professional association of lawyers who are recognized for their dedication to and advancement of the field of corporate governance. Mr. Varallo is a Founding Fellow, Founding Trustee, Vice President, and Secretary of the American College of Governance Counsel; Mr. Gentile has been chosen for the inaugural class of Fellows; and Mr. Balotti has been selected as an Honorary Fellow. These lawyers were elected in recognition of the significant and sustained contributions they have made to governance practice through their activities, speaking, writing, and thought leadership.
Richards, Layton & Finger lawyers are well known for their skill in counseling Delaware corporations and boards of directors in both ordinary and extraordinary corporate transactions and matters of corporate governance. Mr. Varallo focuses his practice on complex corporate and business litigation, arbitration, corporate governance, and corporate transactions. He is a certified mediator with the Delaware Superior Court, co-chairs the American Bar Association’s Delaware Business Law Forum, and serves on the Delaware Supreme Court Rules Committee. Mr. Varallo co-authored Fundamentals of Corporate Governance as well as two books on emerging areas of Delaware law: Special Committees: Law and Practice and The Practitioner’s Guide to the Delaware Rapid Arbitration Act. He is listed in Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation, The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, Who’s Who Legal, and as a Delaware Today Top Lawyer.
Mr. Gentile advises corporations, officers, directors, board committees, and stockholders in connection with mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, and corporate governance issues, and has handled numerous multibillion-dollar transactions. He is an appointed member of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Corporate Laws. Mr. Gentile is recognized in Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, and Who’s Who Legal, and as a Delaware Today Top Lawyer and Best Lawyers’ 2014 Delaware Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year.
Mr. Balotti appeared in and argued many of the leading cases defining the duties of directors under Delaware law. He co-authored two seminal treatises on Delaware corporate law, The Delaware Law of Corporations and Business Organizations and Meetings of Stockholders, and he held numerous leadership positions in the Delaware bar.