Practice Areas
Education
- L.L.B., 1968, University of Pennsylvania Law School
- B.A., 1965, Yale University
Admissions to Practice
- Delaware, 1969
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S Court of Appeals for the Third and Fifth Circuits
- U.S. District Courts for the District of Delaware and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Clipper is a member of the Corporate and Business Litigation Group. He began his career in the corporate counseling area working with S. Samuel Arsht and then moved to litigation under the tutelage of James M. Tunnell. His practice is concentrated in the areas of corporate and business litigation with special emphasis on cases involving corporate governance, shareholder class and derivative actions, and valuation of companies or their shares in statutory appraisal proceedings.
Clipper has testified as an expert witness on the fiduciary duties of directors and controlling stockholders under Delaware law in the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, Canada. Clipper served as Chairman of the Board of Bar Examiners of the Delaware Supreme Court, Chairman of the Bicentennial Commemoration Committee of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, and Chairman of the Court of Chancery Historical Society.
Representative Matters
Clipper has represented numerous public and private corporations or their directors in shareholder and other litigation involving going private transactions, mergers, and other transactions. Public companies he has represented include: Titan Corporation, Central and South West Corporation, General Motors Corporation, Texaco, Inc., Royal Dutch Petroleum, Outboard Marine Corporation, Chaparral Industries, Digex, Inc., and Gaylord Container Corporation, among others.
Clipper has litigated many statutory appraisal proceedings, including for the following clients, among others: Ford Holdings, Inc., Shell Petroleum, Inc., Rapid-American Corporation, Schenley Industries, Inc., Santa Fee Industries, Inc. and its subsidiary Kirby Lumber Corporation, and Reserve Oil Company.
During the imposition of Federal Mandatory Oil Import and Price Controls, Clipper represented numerous oil companies in litigation against the Department of Energy in a series of challenges to the federal regulations, including Texaco, Inc., Phillips Petroleum, Amoco Production Co., Tenneco Oil Co., Coastal States Gas Corp., Cities Service Co., among others.
Clipper and other partners were special counsel to the Board of Directors of Texaco immediately following the $10 billion verdict in favor of Pennzoil against Texaco in the mid-1980s, and represented the Board through the subsequent Texaco bankruptcy and takeover efforts by Carl Icahn. Clipper represented the Board of Directors of General Motors in litigation involving alleged defects in General Motors “X-Car” chassis.
Publications
- William O. (Clipper) LaMotte III, The Technicolor Case: The Latest Word on Delaware Appraisal Law, Corporation, Vol. 68, No. 4, 1-7 (Aspen Law & Business, 1997)
Professional and Community Activities
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Delaware State Bar Association
- President, Cheshire Hunt Conservancy
- Former board member, Delaware Symphony
- Former board member, Multiple Sclerosis Society