Oderah C. Nwaeze

is a trial lawyer with significant experience litigating complex corporate and commercial matters. Mr. Nwaeze’s experience consists of corporate governance actions; statutory actions arising under Delaware General Corporation Law; state and federal class actions (including matters involving state and federal securities laws, statutory and common law fraud, and breaches of fiduciary duty); and breach of contract disputes. Mr. Nwaeze also regularly works with the professionals in Duane Morris’ Intellectual Property Practice Group to represent clients in patent and copyright litigation in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

Mr. Nwaeze also represents financial institutions in litigation matters and has a unique understanding of the legal and business sensitivities of banking clients, which he sharpened through a secondment with TD Bank, N.A. in 2018.

Although his primary office is located in Wilmington, Delaware, Mr. Nwaeze is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and often handles matters in the Commonwealth. Mr. Nwaeze sits on the Philadelphia office’s Inclusion Committee. He also serves on the Compliance Committee of the Board of Trustees for Bancroft, a nonprofit provider of specialized services for individuals with brain injuries, autism and intellectual disabilities. In March 2019, Oderah was appointed to the Board of Directors for Campus Philly, an organization dedicated to fueling economic growth in Philadelphia by encouraging college students to study, explore, live and work in the Greater Philadelphia tri-state region.

Mr. Nwaeze is a graduate of Emory University School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of Emory Advocates, a member of Emory Mock Trial Society, president of the Student/Alumni Association and served on the Emory Law Honor Court. He is also a graduate of Wake Forest University, where he was a member of the Track & Field team and a recipient of the Joseph G. Gordon Merit Scholarship.

Resume

Experience

•Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 2020-present
- Associate, 2014-2019
- Secondee with TD Bank, N.A., June - September 2018
- Graduate, International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) Trial Academy, Stanford Law School, 2017
- fellow, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, 2018-2019

•Grant & Eisenhofer P.A.
- Associate

Civic and Charitable Activities

•Member, Wake Forest University Alumni Council, 2019-present

•Alumni Advisory Board Member, Emory Law School BLSA, 2019-present

•Member, Board of Directors of Mother Teresa House Inc., 2019-present

•Member, Board of Directors of Campus Philly, 2019-present

•Member, Compliance Committee of Bancroft’s Board of Trustees, 2017-present

•Mentor, Philadelphia Futures: Sponsor-a-Scholar Program
•Mentor, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity

Publications and Speaking Engagements

Selected Publications

•Co-author, Delaware Supreme Court Permits Delaware Corporations to Include Federal Forum Provisions in Their Charters and Bylaws, Duane Morris Alert, April 10, 2020

•Author, Chancery Declines to Stay Action in Derivative Lawsuit Involving Special Litigation Committee, Delaware Business Court Insider

•Co-author, Missing an Opportunity to Protect Patients and Save Dollars, American Constitution Society

•Co-author, Congress’s Failure to Regulate Political Trading is Going Unnoticed, American Association for Justice

•Author, Citing 'Issue Preclusion,' the Delaware Court of Chancery Denies Advancement to a Company's Vice President, Duane Morris Delaware Business Law Blog

•Author, Against the Backdrop of President-Elect Trump’s Carrier Deal: The Breach of Fiduciary Duty Exposure Caused by Directing a Subsidiary to Undertake a Transaction for the Parent Company’s Benefit, Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review.

•Co-author, Does Delaware law support reverse veil-piercing? The Fourth Circuit says: YES!, Duane Morris Delaware Business Law Blog.

•Co-author, Delaware’s War Against the 'Boilerplate [Objection] Plague' Goes National, Duane Morris Delaware Business Law Blog.

•Co-author, You Better Answer Me! What to do When Facing a Partial Motion to Dismiss, Duane Morris Delaware Business Law Blog.

Selected Speaking Engagements

•Speaker, First Party and Third-Party Indemnification, Advanced Contract Clauses: Avoiding Boilerplate, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Philadelphia, July 18, 2019

•Moderator, Delaware Summer Judicial Panel, featuring Third Circuit and Delaware Judges, July 12, 2018.

• Why Delaware? Here’s Why: Exploring Delaware’s Preeminent Legal Landscape, Bryn Mawr Trust Co., Seminar Series, March 2, 2017