Superior Court of Delaware Official Web Site

Superior Court
Complex Commercial Litigation Division

Special Judge's Panel

Cases identified as qualifying to be a Complex Commercial Litigation Division (CCLD) case are assigned, on a rotating basis, to a judge on the Special CCLD Judge's Panel, unless specially assigned to the case by the President Judge.

View Administrative Directive 2010-4 for CCLD Judge Panel Assignments >>

The Panel is be appointed by the President Judge from among the Superior Court judges. Each judge on the Panel will serve a 3-year term unless replaced by the President Judge. Judges assigned to the Panel collaborate to promote uniformity in case management. Judges assigned to the Panel may establish standing orders and protocols. (CCLD Standing Orders are default standards. Orders are flexible and adjustments may be made as agreed upon by the parties.)

If a case is assigned initially to a judge of the Court under another case category and it is subsequently identified as a qualifying case by a CIS filed by a responding party, it will be reassigned to a Special CCLD Panel Judge.

The initial Complex Commercial Litigation Division Panel Judges are Judge Fred S. Silverman, Judge Joseph R. Slights III Judge Jan R. Jurden, and Judge Mary M. Johnston.

COMPLEX COMMERCIAL DIVISION PANEL JUDGES

Judge Fred S. Silverman

The Honorable Fred S. Silverman became a Judge of the Superior Court of Delaware in October 1993.

Judge Silverman received his B.A. from New College, and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1975.

From 1987 to 1993, Judge Silverman was Delaware's Chief Deputy Attorney General. From 1983 to 1987 Judge Silverman was Delaware's State Solicitor. From 1978 until 1983 Judge Silverman served as a prosecutor. Before entering state service, Judge Silverman was an Associate at Biggs & Battaglia.

Judge Joseph R. Slights III

The Honorable Joseph R. Slights III, was appointed to the Superior Court of Delaware by Governor Thomas R. Carper on November 2, 2000.

Judge Slights received his B.S. in Political Science (with honors) from James Madison University in 1985, and his J.D. degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1988. He was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1988. He is a member of the Bars of the United States District Court For the District of Delaware, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Prior to joining the Superior Court, Judge Slights was an associate in private practice with the firm Richards, Layton & Finger where his practice focused on corporate litigation. Thereafter, he was an associate with the Law Offices of Sidney Balick where he practiced in the areas of personal injury, commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense. From 1992 to 2000, he was a partner with the law firm Morris, James, Hitchens & Williams, where he practiced in the areas of health law, corporate and commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense. He was Vice Chairman of the Health Law practice group and Chairman of the firm’s recruiting committee.

Judge Slights has been elected to serve on The American Law Institute. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Delaware State Bar Association. He is a past Chairman of the Health Law section and currently serves as the Judicial Member of the Executive Committee of the Delaware State Bar Association. He is a past President of the Richard S. Rodney Inn of Court. He is a charter member of the American College of Business Court Judges, a member of the Advisory Board for the Georgetown University Law Center’s e-Discovery Institute, a member of the National Advisory Council of the American Judicature Society, a member of the AJS Carpenter Jury Center Advisory and Editorial Committee, and an adjunct professor at Widener University School of Law.

He is a recipient of the Delaware State Bar Association’s Distinguished Mentoring Award and the Middle States Council of the Social Studies Distinguished Service Award (recognizing his long time involvement in, and commitment to, the High School Mock Trial program). He has authored or co-authored several articles, including “Alternate Dispute Resolution and Court-Appointed Experts,” Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal, Vol. 6, No. 3 (2006); and “The History of Delaware’s Business Courts,” Business Law Today, Vol. 17, No. 4 (March/April 2008). He presides over the Court’s Seroquel® litigation docket and is a member of the Court’s Complex Commercial Litigation Division.

Judge Jan R. Jurden

The Honorable Jan R. Jurden, a Delaware native, was appointed to the Superior Court of Delaware in May 2001.

After serving three years in the United States Army overseas, Judge Jurden received her B.A. summa cum laude from Muhlenberg College in 1985 and her J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law (now the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University) in 1988 where she was an Articles Editor of the Law Review and a member of the Woolsack Honor Society.

She practiced law as an Associate with the law firm of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor from 1988 to 1995 concentrating on corporate, commercial and personal injury litigation, and became a Partner in 1996. She continued her law practice at Young, Conaway until May 2001. During her 13 years at Young, Conaway, Judge Jurden litigated cases in the U.S. District Court, Delaware Supreme Court, Superior Court, Court of Chancery, Family Court and Court of Common Pleas.

Since its inception in 2008, Judge Jurden has overseen Superior Court’s Mental Health Court. She oversaw the Conflict Attorney Program, providing representation for indigent defendants from 2006 to 2008. She previously served as Civil Administrative Judge and is currently Criminal Administrative Judge. She is also a member of the Court's Complex Commercial Litigation Division.

Judge Jurden is a member of the American Bar and the Delaware State Bar Associations and the National Association of Women Judges. She is a member of the Advisory Committee on the Delaware Rules of Evidence and the Advisory Committee on Professionalism. She is also a member of the Richard S. Rodney Inn of Court.

Judge Jurden is the 2009 recipient of Sylvia H. Rambo Award presented by the Women’s Law Caucus of the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law “honoring a woman in the legal profession who has had a distinguished career and who, by example, has made the professional success of other women more likely.”

She was the 1997 recipient of the Caleb R. Layton III Service Award awarded to one who "personifies the qualities of a federal practitioner, legal acumen, professional decorum and public service." She was also the 1996 recipient of the New Lawyers Distinguished Service Award, awarded to one who, "by exemplary leadership and service dedicated to the cause of good citizenship in civic and humanitarian service over a period of less than ten years has maintained the integrity and honored recognition of the legal profession in community affairs and who, as an outstanding Delawarean, has unceasingly advanced the ideals of citizen participation and community accomplishment, thus reflecting high honor on both country and profession."

Judge Mary Miller Johnston

The Honorable Mary Miller Johnston was appointed to the Superior Court of Delaware on September 25, 2003.

Judge Johnston received her J.D. cum laude from Washington & Lee University School of Law where she served as Lead Article's Editor of the Law Review. She also has a B.A. magna cum laude in music from Wittenberg University, and an M.A. in music from Northwestern University.

Before coming to the bench, Judge Johnston served as Chief Counsel of the Delaware Supreme Court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, prosecuting attorney discipline cases and unauthorized practice of law matters. She formerly was a partner with Morris James, LLP practicing primarily in the areas of corporate and commercial litigation. She currently is assigned as a member of the Court’s Complex Commercial Litigation Division.

Judge Johnston is past chair of the Delaware State Bar Association's Women and the Law Section; a recipient of the Bar Association's Women’s Leadership Award; and was a member of the Pro Se Litigation Assistance Committee. She is a member of the Delaware Supreme Court's Permanent Advisory Committee on the Delaware Lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct, the Professionalism Committee, the Court's Commission on Continuing Legal Education, and the Richard S. Rodney Inn of Court. Her past service includes the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee and Judicial Liaison to the Executive Committee of the Delaware State Bar Association. Judge Johnston serves as a member of the Washington & Lee School of Law Council and member of the Board of Governors of Wesley Theological Seminary. She is past president of the Board of Children & Families First..