TransPerfect and CEO Phil Shawe Win Sweeping Victory in Fight for Delaware Chancery Court Transparency as Motion to Unseal Full Court Record is Granted
WILMINGTON, Del, October 29, 2020 – TransPerfect, the world’s largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business, today announced a major victory in Delaware Chancery Court. The company and its CEO and Co-Founder Phil Shawe have been fighting for transparency in judicial proceedings, and yesterday, after a years-long battle, the Court granted Shawe's request to unseal virtually the entire Court record, which had been hidden from the public for years. This victory is one of several recently in which the Chancery Court's outmoded procedures that benefit Delaware's entrenched interest groups have come under public scrutiny.
Covered under the motion are records pertaining to the unprecedented Court-mandated sale of TransPerfect, a protracted process in which Shawe ultimately emerged as the victor but was forced to pay enormous fees to the court’s agents, including millions in sales commissions on shares that he already owned. By opening these records, the Court has broken with its long-standing reputation of operating in a "star chamber" environment. To date, TransPerfect contends the Delaware Chancery Court's interference and appetite for generating litigation business in Delaware has cost the company and its stakeholders a staggering amount of expenses, most of which went to unnecessary and unchecked legal costs.
TransPerfect and Shawe continue to work diligently to resolve all remaining housekeeping matters stemming from the Chancery Court’s unpredictable and unprecedented order. Unsealing the record can help the public understand Delaware’s tendency to generate litigation for local firms versus facilitating commonsense settlements.
"Light is beginning to shine on Delaware's otherwise secretive Chancery Court system—and for whatever role TransPerfect's legal saga has played in this, we are proud to help pave the road of progress," stated Shawe.
In the wake of the controversial court-ordered expenses associated with the protracted battle in Chancery Court, intense scrutiny followed. Some of the more archaic aspects of Delaware's judicial system, which suffer from a shocking lack of diversity and transparency, as well as no randomized method to assign cases to judges, are gradually changing for the better. Earlier this year, TransPerfect employees led a lobbying effort that culminated in Delaware rejecting Chancellor Bouchard's own personal application to the Supreme Court in favor of choosing its first Black Supreme Court justice in history. TransPerfect employees celebrated their active role in bringing diversity to the traditionally all-white Delaware Supreme Court as a major victory.
Shawe continued, "While TransPerfect has little left to gain or lose for itself in Delaware, it is my fervent hope that our years-long quest for transparency will now inform bipartisan state lawmakers, and spur them to enact meaningful, modern-day, and commonsense reforms to the benefit of all Delaware corporations and citizens."
About TransPerfect
TransPerfect is the world’s largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business. From offices in over 100 cities on six continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in 170+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 5,000 global organizations employ TransPerfect’s GlobalLink® Product Suite to simplify management of multilingual content. With an unparalleled commitment to quality and client service, TransPerfect is fully ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certified. TransPerfect has global headquarters in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com.