Robert L. Symonds, Jr. is chair of Morris James' transactions practice and primarily is involved in two practice areas: Corporations and Other Business Organizations, and Financial Institutions and Commercial Transactions. Mr. Symonds focuses his practice on corporate and business transactions, particularly the structure and use of Delaware business entities, including Delaware corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and statutory trusts. He often serves as Delaware counsel to lenders, borrowers, investors, managers, trustees and other parties in domestic and international business transactions. His practice frequently involves providing third-party legal opinions as to matters of Delaware law and United States federal law.
Mr. Symonds is one of the original drafters of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act and is chairman of the drafting committee responsible for amendments to that statute and to the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act and the Delaware Revised Uniform Partnership Act. He also is a member of the drafting committee for the Delaware Statutory Trust Act and is one of the principal drafters of the Delaware Revised Captive Insurance Company Act. He is co-author of Symonds & O'Toole on Delaware Limited Liability Companies, published by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business/Aspen Publishers. His articles on amendments to Delaware's corporate and alternative entity statutes and the Delaware UCC are published regularly in CSC's Delaware Laws Governing Business Entities, and he has spoken at numerous seminars on topics of Delaware law. Mr. Symonds is a former chair of the Delaware State Bar Association's Commercial Law Section, which monitors and recommends changes to Delaware's business and commercial laws.
Mr. Symonds was born in Danbury, Connecticut. He received his B.A. degree from Villanova University in 1975 and his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1985, where he served as associate editor and managing editor of The Journal of Law and Commerce. He is a member of the Delaware State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.