Precedent LLP — Litigation & Corporate Counsel

Since 1948,when the mattercannot be lost.

Counsel to corporations, boards, and three generations of the same families — in courtrooms and boardrooms of consequence.

Complex Litigation·Corporate & M&A·Appellate·Trusts & Estates

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THE RECORD

$4.2B

Recovered for clients

Years of continuous counsel

1,900+

Matters resolved

Jurisdictions of admission

From the firm's ledger, 1948–2026. Figures audited annually.

New York · Wilmington · Washington

02 · The Firm

Precedent was founded in 1948 on a single conviction: that certain matters admit no margin for error. For three generations the firm has been retained when the stakes are absolute — by corporations defending their existence, by boards answering for their judgment, by families preserving what they built. We prepare every matter as if it will be tried, and we try very few. That is not caution. It is how matters that cannot be lost are not.

New York · Wilmington · Washington — Est. 1948

03 · Practice

Areas of practice.

Six practices. One standard of preparation.

I.LitigationTrial and dispute resolution where the outcome is existential — commercial, fiduciary, and high-exposure defense.Counsel →II.CorporateCounsel to boards and closely held enterprises: governance, transactions, and the long view.Counsel →III.Real EstateAcquisition, development, and dispute over land of consequence.Counsel →IV.Estates & TrustsThe orderly passage of what three generations built — planning, administration, contest.Counsel →V.RegulatoryStanding between enterprise and the state: investigations, enforcement, compliance.Counsel →VI.AppellateThe record, perfected. Briefing and argument before the circuits and the Supreme Court.Counsel →

04 · The Record in Full

Entered into the record.

$310M

Largest single verdict, affirmed

Arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court

Matters heard en banc

1953Estate of H. WhitlockThe will contest that established the firm's trusts practice.

1978Marden Steel v. Atlantic Casualty$46M recovery — then the largest coverage verdict in Delaware.

1994In re Calloway HoldingsThe board defended; every claim dismissed with prejudice.

2011United States v. Renner GroupDeclination after an eighteen-month investigation. No charges.

2019Whitmore v. Continental Indus.$310M verdict for the family's minority stake; affirmed on appeal.

2024In re Solent Marine Merger Litig.$2.1B merger closed as signed.

A selection. Most of the firm's significant engagements remain, by design, confidential.

05 · The Attorneys

Figures of standing.

Eleanor R. VancePrecedent LLP

Eleanor R. Vance

Managing Partner, Litigation

Third generation of the founding family. Forty-one matters tried to verdict — among them Whitmore, from filing to affirmance.

Admitted in New York and Delaware; Second and Third Circuits

Henry J. AshePrecedent LLP

Henry J. Ashe

Founding Partner, Corporate

Fifty years at the bar. Counsel to nine boards across four decades — and keeper of the firm's founding standard.

Admitted in New York and Delaware

Marcus D. HalePrecedent LLP

Marcus D. Hale

Senior Partner, Appellate

Nine arguments before the Supreme Court. Former clerk to the Third Circuit. Writes the briefs that judges quote.

Admitted in the District of Columbia and Delaware; U.S. Supreme Court

The Full Roster

06 · Why Precedent

The argument for the firm.

Judgment

Most counsel will tell you what you can do. Precedent was retained to say what you should. The advice is direct, occasionally unwelcome, and never hedged.

II.

Discretion

The firm's most significant engagements have never been public, and never will be. We measure standing by the matters no one has heard of.

III.

Standing

Seventy-eight years before the same courts. The bench knows the firm's name; so does opposing counsel. It changes the conversation.

07 · Recognition

Noted, for the record.

Chambers USA

Band 1 — Commercial Litigation

2012–2026

The Legal 500

Top Tier — M&A: Middle-Market

2018–2026

Best Lawyers

“Law Firm of the Year” — Trusts & Estates

2024

Martindale-Hubbell

AV Preeminent — Every Rated Partner

Since 1962

Am. College of Trial Lawyers

Four Fellows of the College

1989–2023

08 · Insights

A firm that writes.

All Insights

July 2026The Fiduciary's Dilemma After Solent MarineWhat the Court of Chancery's latest guidance asks of directors who dissent.Read →May 2026Quiet Compliance: Preparing for the Investigation You Hope Never ComesA protocol for the eighteen months before anyone calls.Read →March 2026Three Generations, One TrustDrafting for grandchildren not yet born — and the contests that never happen.Read →

09 · The Consultation

If the matter is serious, so are we.

The firm accepts a limited number of new matters each term. Counsel — not an intake service — responds within two business days.

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New York · Wilmington · Washington

In confidence, always.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.