Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP

Corporate Counseling

Morris Nichols partner Patricia Vella regularly provides advice on corporate governance matters and a variety of corporate transactions for publicly traded and privately held corporations.  Patricia is often called upon to advise on mergers and acquisitions, financings, asset sales and other significant transactions.  Her work includes structuring complex transactions and often involves counseling boards of directors and board committees on their fiduciary duties and the technical aspects of Delaware corporate law.  She also provides formal legal opinions on issues involving Delaware corporate law.  For more, visit her bio at https://www.morrisnichols.com/lawyers-patricia-o-vella.

Actively involved with the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section, Patricia currently serves as the Delaware Liaison to the Mergers & Acquisitions Committee. She is a former Vice Chair of the M&A Committee and a former Co-Chair of the Subcommittee on Acquisitions of Public Companies of the M&A Committee. She currently serves on the Corporate Laws Committee as the M&A Committee Liaison.  She was a member of the Corporate Laws Committee from 2014-2020 and served as Co-Chair of the MBCA Implementation and Outreach Subcommittee. From 2011-2018, she also served as Co-Chair of the Joint Task Force on Governance Issues in Business Combinations. As part of her role as Task Force Co-Chair, she served as an editor of The Role of Directors in M&A Transactions: A Governance Handbook for Directors, Management and Advisors.

Patricia is a member of the Council of the Corporation Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association and, in that capacity, participates in the annual review of, and preparation of amendments to, the Delaware General Corporation Law. She was appointed by the Delaware Supreme Court to serve as a member of the court’s Board on Professional Responsibility from 2012-2018.  In 2018, she became a fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel, in 2019 was named to the Board of Trustees and Secretary, and in 2023 was elected Vice Chair.

Patricia also frequently speaks on Delaware corporate law issues at corporate law seminars and symposia around the country, including the Tulane Corporate Law Institute, the University of Texas Mergers & Acquisitions Institute, the Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate and Securities Law Institute, the Northwestern Law Securities Regulation Institute and the ABA National M&A Institute. In 2023, she was Programming Co-Chair of the Delaware Governance Institute. She also serves as Co-Chair of Practising Law Institute’s Mergers & Acquisitions conference.

American Bar Association (Business Law Section: Corporate Laws Committee (M&A Committee Liaison, MBCA Implementation and Outreach Subcommittee Co-Chair 2014-2020), Mergers and Acquisitions Committee Delaware Liaison, Vice Chair 2020-2024 (Subcommittee on Acquisitions of Public Companies Co-Chair 2016-2022, Joint Task Force on Governance Issues in Business Combinations Co-Chair 2011-2018, Subcommittee on M&A Jurisprudence, Annual Survey Working Group))

American College of Governance Counsel (Fellow, Board of Trustees, Vice Chair)

Board on Professional Responsibility, Delaware Supreme Court (2012-2018)

Delaware State Bar Association (Council of the Corporation Law Section)

J.D., magna cum laude, 1996, Villanova University School of Law Executive Editor, Villanova Law Review

B.S., business administration, magna cum laude, 1992, University of Delaware