Is It a Chick Thing?
11th April 2026
The first woman to serve as a Chancery judge was appointed in 1984.when the court expended to four judges. She retired in 1994. A second female judge served from 2015-2019. There are now seven judges, four of them women, including the first woman to serve as Chancellor, Kathleen St. Jude McCormick appointed in 2021.
Delaware has been well-known for being a jurisdiction with laws favorable to those entrusted with corporate governance. One of the significant advantages of Delaware incorporation has been the highly professional, predictable, jury-free work of the Chancery Court staffed with highly qualified specialists in corporate law. It is still the case that the judges and magistrates on the Chancery Court have impeccable credentials.
There is no corporate tax in Delaware. There have been no significant adverse legislative changes. So why have a significant number of big firms such as Tesla, Dropbox, Coinbase, the Trump Media Group and other tech firms suddenly re-incorporated in Nevada, Florida or Texas? It is understandable that firms would flee California’s tax and regulatory predation, but what has changed in Delaware?
In a controversial and apparently diagnostic ruling, Chancellor McCormick agreed with a plaintiff shareholder that Elon Musk’s Tesla compensation package violated a fairness standard even though it had been approved by the board in accordance with company rules and procedures. The Delaware Supreme Court overruled her and found her assumption that Musk must have exerted undo influence violated the rather basic principle of law that the plaintiff must prove his case and by implication that the defendant is not required to overcome the inclinations of the judge.