Richards Layton Names New Firm Officers

July 1, 2011

Firm News| Corporate Transactions| Corporate & Chancery Litigation| Real Estate Services

WILMINGTON, Delaware (July 1, 2011) – The board of directors of Richards, Layton & Finger has elected William J. Wade as president and Robert J. Krapf as executive vice president of the firm. Thomas A. Beck has been appointed by Wade to be the firm’s senior vice president. Wade, Krapf and Beck assume their new offices on July 1 and will each serve a two-year term. Wade succeeds C. Stephen Bigler, who remains on the firm’s executive committee as the immediate past president.

Wade, chair of the firm’s Litigation Department, represents local and national clients in Delaware’s state and federal courts with an emphasis on various areas of civil litigation, including intellectual property and commercial law matters. He also represents and advises health-care clients, including the Christiana Care Health System, the state’s largest health-care organization.

With a long history of leadership in the legal community, Wade has served on numerous panels and committees in the bar, as well as on the boards of local charitable organizations. He has received the Caleb R. Layton III Service Award, presented by the judges of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware for exemplary service to the court.

Krapf focuses on a variety of transactional matters in the areas of real estate and land use law. His clients include many of the regional and national developers, landlords, banks and other lenders, conservation organizations, institutions, businesses and industries operating in Delaware.

Currently the assistant secretary of the Delaware State Bar Association’s Executive Committee, Krapf has held many local and national leadership positions in the bar, as well as in numerous business, charitable and cultural organizations. He is a frequent speaker on topics of real estate, land use and business law, and has published educational materials and articles about real estate law and land use regulation.

Beck represents Delaware corporations, their directors, large stockholders and other constituencies in corporate litigation. He has litigated numerous corporate control disputes, shareholder class actions and derivative suits, contested shareholder elections, statutory appraisal actions and similar matters in the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court.

In addition to his litigation practice, Beck counsels Delaware corporations and their directors on corporate governance and statutory and fiduciary duties. He is a member of the Business Law and Litigation Sections of both the American Bar Association and the Delaware State Bar Association.

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