About Me

After 26 years as a corporate lawyer and four years working on policy issues for a leading non-profit organization, I saw the need for a new private governance initiative to accelerate a shift from unbridled profit-seeking to a capitalism that values only those profits that are good for the planet and its inhabitants. This led me to found The Shareholder Commons.

Following law school at Georgetown University, I practiced law for 26 years at Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, including four years as managing partner.  During that time, I was selected as one of the ten most highly regarded corporate governance lawyers worldwide, as Delaware Mergers & Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year, as Delaware Corporate Law Lawyer of the Year, and as one of the 500 leading lawyers in the United States.

In 2015, I became the Head of Legal Policy at B Lab, a non-profit organization dedicated to enabling people to use business as a force for good.  In that position, I worked with lawyers, companies, investors, legislators and regulators around the world, seeking to create corporate governance structures that lead corporations to contribute to a healthy and stable society and planet.

Rick

I prepared the initial drafts of both the Delaware public benefit corporation legislation and the American Bar Association’s Benefit Corporation White Paper, and serve as Special Consultant to the ABA’s Corporate Laws Committee.  I am also a member of the Delaware Access to Justice Commission, co-chair the Content Committee of the American College of Governance Counsel, and am a member of the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative Advisory Board.  I also serve as a board member and Secretary of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

I live in Wilmington, Delaware with my wife Elly, in an emptied nest.