Leo Strine: Delaware’s Moment, AI Guardrails, and a Call of Conscience

Feb 23, 2026

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(0:00) Intro

(1:29) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.

(2:15) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episode with Leo Strine (E100)

(3:09) The Call of Conscience and The Current Moment (reference to his speech at the Weinberg Center in Oct of 2025)

(5:18) Skepticism about Credibility of the Elite Among the Youth

(7:02) The Ethical Muscle

(8:20) Acknowledging Discrimination

(8:56) The Climate Crisis

(12:37) Shifts in Delaware Law

(13:45) Return to Traditions. "What Delaware has done is return to its traditions that existed the entire time I was a judge."

(14:28) The Controlled Company Debate and the MFW standard.

(25:00) On the recent pushback against incorporating in Delaware: "I don't minimize the moment"

(32:00) Section 220 Books and Records under SB21

(34:20) The statute was amended to provide more predictability. It actually looks like the Model Business Corporation Act. "I think both elements of this statute balance fairness and efficiency in a really good way."

(39:54) Activist Judges and Delaware. "This was a nonpartisan initiative to restore confidence in Delaware's corporate law. I have the utmost respect for our judiciary, I'm proud to have been part of it, and I believe they will follow the law."

(42:26) Delaware's Competitive Edge

(48:25) The Rise of AI Companies

(52:16) Energy Demand from AI. From guardrails to "trust us"

(58:39) The Urgency of Leadership

(1:01:59) Davos looks like a portrait of leadership failure "either eliminate it or make it real."

Leo E. Strine, Jr., is Of Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Prior to joining WLRK, he was the Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from early 2014 through late 2019.

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License