In 2019, Chancellor Andre Bouchard of the Delaware Chancery Court said he was “sympathetic to some of the concerns [TransPerfect] has raised,” subsequently ordering Custodian Robert Pincus and Skadden Arps to provide itemized billing details in support of the many non-itemized fees charged back to Phil Shawe and TransPerfect.
At the time of the ruling, TransPerfect CEO Phil Shawe said the ruling was “a major win for transparency and openness in the Delaware courts.”
However, amidst court closures due to Coronavirus, Skadden Arps decided to hide more of its documentation, believing it would go unnoticed or that the Delaware Chancery Court would yield to its traditional practices. Finally, in a motion that upset Chancellor Bouchard, Skadden Arps submitted what it thought was an appropriately redacted motion that hid most everything.
On June 8, after TransPerfect requested Skadden Arps to clarify its redacted petition, Chancellor Andre Bouchard ordered for Skadden Arps to provide an unredacted record for TransPerfect. In what seems will finally provide just results, the Delaware Chancery Court told Skadden Arps in is not the sole arbitrator of what is secret and what is open.
TransPerfect, Skadden Arps and the Delaware Chancery, including Chancellor Andre Bouchard, have continued to go head to head for a fair outcome in what has now become a five year legal battle. A legal battle that started when TransPerfect co-founders Phil Shawe and Liz Elting went to court for custody over the translation company, which is now the world’s largest.
Original story in Medium.