Melissa A. DiVincenzo > Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP > Wilmington, United States > Lawyer Profile
Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP Offices
CHASE MANHATTAN CENTER, 18TH FLOOR
1201 NORTH MARKET STREET
WILMINGTON, DE
DELAWARE
United States
- Firm Profile
- Go to...
Melissa A. DiVincenzo
Work Department
Corporate Counseling
Position
Morris Nichols partner Melissa DiVincenzo provides advice on corporate governance matters and private and public corporate transactions, including initial public offerings, mergers, asset sales, domestications, dissolutions and financing transactions. Clients look to Melissa for specialized knowledge of Delaware law when structuring transactions and confronting complex or novel corporate issues.
Her work also involves guiding Delaware corporations on the requirements of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), counseling boards of directors and board committees with respect to fiduciary duties, and providing formal legal opinions on issues of Delaware law. Melissa has represented Fortune 500 companies, retailers, energy companies, agriculture and food businesses, technology companies, and many others on matters of Delaware law. For more, view her bio at https://www.morrisnichols.com/lawyers-melissa-a-divincenzo.
Career
Melissa is actively involved with the American Bar Association’s Mergers and Acquisitions Committee and serves as the co-chair of the Private Company Merger Agreement Working Group. Appointed by the Delaware Supreme Court, Melissa served on the Delaware Board of Bar Examiners from 2015-2017. She previously served on the Delaware Bar Association’s subcommittee on Sections 204 and 205 of the DGCL.
Melissa frequently speaks on Delaware corporate law issues with a focus on M&A developments, the changing litigation landscape, and technical guidance from the Delaware courts on drafting matters.
Memberships
- American Bar Association (Business Law Section)
- Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions
- Private Company Merger Agreement Working Group (Co-Chair)
- Subcommittee on Acquisitions of Public Companies
- Annual Survey Working Group
- Judicial Interpretations Working Group
- Delaware Board of Bar Examiners (appointed by Delaware Supreme Court, 2015-2017)
- Delaware State Bar Association
Education
- J.D., 2001, magna cum laude, Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University
- Comments Editor, The Dickinson Law Review
- B.A., English and History, 1998, magna cum laude, Mount Saint Mary’s University
Lawyer Rankings
United States > M&A/corporate and commercial > Delaware counsel
(Leading lawyers)Hailed as ‘one of the top firms in Delaware, whose name everyone knows‘, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP‘s practice offers an ‘unparalleled knowledge of Delaware law‘ as the team was involved in writing many of the Delaware corporate laws. Daniel Matthews, Jeffrey Wolters, David Harris, and Louis Hering lead the team, and Eric Klinger-Wilensky, known as ‘very responsive, knowledgeable and practical’, is a driver of corporate work within the group, with his practice focusing on corporate advice in the context of transaction and governance litigation. Aside from this, Sara Gelsinger stands out for her ‘commercial and solutions focused’ work. The team is praised for its ‘strong local regulator relationships’ and assists both publicly traded and privately held companies. On the private side, the group has recently seen an increase in ‘business divorce’ cases, where a private company partnership and stakeholders disagree on changing course, liquidating, dissolving or investing to address stressors connected to the pandemic. Melissa DiVincenzo is a key name to note for advising clients on Delaware General Corporation Law. Jason Russell‘s expertise lies in areas such as Delaware alternative entities and limited liability partnerships.