William T. Allen has, since 1997, served as counsel to the firm. In that capacity he consults on matters of corporation law and corporate governance with members of the firm and their clients. Allen also serves as the Jack H. Nusbaum Professor of Law & Business at New York University and Director of the NYU Center for Law & Business.
From 1985 to 1997 Allen served as Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery. As Chancellor, Allen wrote hundreds of corporate law judicial opinions. Notable among these were the Caremark case, which addressed the duty of corporate directors to monitor corporate legal compliance; the Time-Warner case that addressed the board's ability to resist a hostile offer while it was seeking to effectuate its own business plan; and the Blasius case, which announced a heightened standard of judicial review when director action sought to interfere with a shareholder vote.
While serving as Chancellor, Allen taught corporation law and corporate governance as a Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In 1996 he served as Rabin Lecturer at Yale Law School.
Judge Allen writes and lectures on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. In 2003, with Professor Reinier Kraakman of Harvard Law School, he published the text "Commentaries and Cases on the Law of Business Organization" (Aspen Publishers). He received his B.S. from New York University, his J.D. from the University of Texas and the honorary doctorate degree LL.D. from Dickinson Law School. Judge Allen is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, among other organizations.