Speaker details

Biography

The Honorable Karen Valihura was sworn in as Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware on Friday, July 25, 2014. Justice Valihura, as a practicing lawyer, was consistently selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and The Best Lawyers in America. Her corporate litigation practice included complex commercial and corporate governance issues, federal and state securities matters, as well as mergers and acquisitions and other transactional litigation. Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Valihura was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, where she practiced law from 1989 until her appointment to the Court in 2014. Justice Valihura served on the Advisory Board of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance and served as Chair of the Delaware Supreme Court’s Board on Professional Responsibility and as Chair of the Delaware Supreme Court’s Permanent Ethics Advisory Committee on the Delaware Rules for Professional Conduct. Justice Valihura served for eight years on the Corporation Law Council of the Corporation Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association. Additionally, Justice Valihura served her community as a member of the Board of Directors for the Delaware Special Olympics for eighteen years, including service as that Board’s President, and as a member of the Delaware Bar Foundation for eight years, including service as that Board’s President. As a Justice, she was selected by the National Association of Corporate Directors to the NACD Directorship 100, honoring the most influential people in corporate governance. She is also a member of the American Law Institute, including its Board of Advisors for its Restatement of Corporate Governance. Justice Valihura received her undergraduate degree from Washington and Jefferson College in 1985 where she was valedictorian, and her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she was a member of the Law Review. She served as a law clerk to Judge Robert E. Cowen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.