About Us

In 2007, Joanne "Jody" Pinckney opened the firm now known as Pinckney, Weidinger, Urban & Joyce LLC after six years as counsel at Bouchard, Margules & Friedlander handling corporate litigation and bankruptcy matters. Jody began her legal career as a litigation associate with Klehr, Harrison, Harvey, Branzberg, Ellers & Weir in 1994. She helped to establish that firm's Delaware office, and later, to establish Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen's Delaware office where she practiced corporate litigation and bankruptcy for five years. Jody retired as of April 30, 2020.

Mike Weidinger spent fourteen years with Morris James LLP in Wilmington prior to joining the Firm and was a partner in that firm's Corporate & Fiduciary Litigation practice group when he left to join PWUJ in 2008.

In November, 2009, Patricia Urban came to the firm from Morris James, where she too was a partner in the Corporate & Fiduciary Litigation practice group. Prior to that, Patricia spent five years litigating corporate and commercial disputes at Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell. Patricia began her legal career as a Josiah Oliver Wolcott law clerk to the former Chief Justice, the Honorable E. Norman Veasey, in the Delaware Supreme Court.

The same month, Elizabeth Wilburn Joyce joined the firm after nine years with Blank Rome LLP where she was a partner in that firm's Corporate Litigation practice group. Elizabeth started her career as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable William C. Carpenter, Jr. in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware in 1996, and then as a corporate litigation association with the corporate boutique firm of Prickett, Jones and Elliott, prior to joining Blank Rome in 2000.

In September 2017, Helena Rychlicki joined the firm after seventeen years of practicing intellectual property law with Connolly, Bove, Lodge & Hutz LLP and as a sole practitioner. Helena began her legal career as a Josiah Oliver Wolcott law clerk to the former Justice, the Honorable Randy J. Holland, in the Delaware Supreme Court.

In 2019, Megan Ix Brison joined the firm as a lateral associated after practicing in Maryland for 5 years. Megan was admitted to the Delaware Bar in March, 2020.

Together, these lawyers have extensive experience before the Delaware state and federal courts, including the Court of Chancery and Superior Courts, the Delaware Supreme Court, U.S. District Court, U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as on behalf of clients in jurisdictions around the country. Their clients include individuals, corporations and alternative entities from all over the country and the world.

As a majority women-owned firm, PWUJ is certified by the State of Delaware as an Office of Minority & Women Business Enterprise vendor and by the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF). The Firm is also on the Approved Special Counsel list for Chancery Court litigation for the State of Delaware and approved as Delaware Corporate Law Counsel for one of the largest Retirement Funds in the country. PWUJ is proud to offer "big firm" talent and experience, with "small firm" personalized service. We practice in all three counties of the State of Delaware, and in all of its courts.

In 2019, Megan Ix joined the firm as a lateral associated after practicing in Maryland for 5 years. Megan was admitted to the Delaware in March, 2020.

Delaware Counsel Work

The Firm's attorneys have worked with the following national and international law firms as both co-lead counsel and Delaware counsel:

  • Akin Gump
  • Blank Rome
  • Bowles Rice
  • Bryan Cave
  • Budd Larner
  • Cleary Gottlieb
  • Cooley
  • Davis Polk
  • Dinsmore & Shohl
  • DLA Piper
  • Godwin & Carlton PC
  • Griesing Law, LLC
  • Hunton & Williams
  • Hughes Hubbard
  • Jones Day
  • Jenner & Block
  • Kelley Drye & Warren
  • Locke Lord
  • Kean Miller
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Morrison Foerster
  • Millbank Tweed
  • Munger Tolles & Olson
  • Paul Hastings
  • Olgletree Deakins
  • O'Melveny & Myers
  • Pepper Hamilton
  • Proskauer Rose
  • Reeves & Brightwell
  • Sheppard Mullin
  • Simpson Thacher
  • Sutton McAughan Deaver
  • Vinson & Elkins
  • Wachtell
  • Weil Gotshal & Manges
  • Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf
  • Wilk Auslander
  • Yetter Coleman

Insurance Carrier - Approved Outside Counsel

The Firm has worked as outside counsel on behalf of insureds of the following insurance carriers: AIG; Travelers; Hartford; Chartis, Chubb and Monitor.

Industry Experience

In connection with its litigation, counseling and transactional restructuring and bankruptcy, corporate and commercial work, the members of the Firm have experience in the following industries:

  • Airlines
  • Chemical
  • Energy
  • Entertainment
  • Financial institutions and lenders
  • Health care companies
  • Hedge funds, investment banks, private equity, securities firms
  • Insurance
  • Manufacturing
  • Mobile and internet
  • Oil and gas
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Real estate
  • Telecommunications
  • Construction and demolition

Representative engagements:

Together, the Firm's lawyers have over 90 years of experience in corporate, commercial and bankruptcy matters, including on behalf of the following entities or their directors, officers or other constituents:

  • American Airlines
  • Bank of America
  • Bloomberg, LP
  • Broadway San Francisco f/k/a SHN
  • Connecticut Telephone
  • CIT Equipment Financing
  • Conectiv Energy
  • Continental Airlines
  • Coventry Health Care
  • DKR Fusion Management L.P.
  • Dal-Tile International, Inc.
  • Dell Financial
  • DISH Network
  • Dynegy
  • Dolphin Communications Fund
  • Elof Hansen
  • E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company
  • Encore Marketing International, Inc.
  • Enterprise ETE LLC
  • EBG Holdings
  • Exodus Communications, Inc.
  • FDIC
  • GE Money Bank and GE Capital Retail Bank
  • GE Lighting Solutions
  • Halliburton Energy Services
  • Holly Oil Corporation n/k/a HollyFrontier Corporation
  • J.P. Morgan Securities
  • Jeffries & Co.
  • Kappa Investors
  • Lucas Films
  • Level 3 Communications
  • Masco Corporation
  • MetLife
  • McDonald's
  • Marathon Oil
  • Maxum Petroleum
  • New Century Mortgage Corp.
  • MeadWestvaco Corporation
  • Morgan Stanley International Inc.
  • Pinnacle Foods
  • Polaroid
  • Porsche Financial Services
  • RBC Capital Markets
  • RBC Trust Company (Delaware) Limited
  • PNC Bank
  • Protex International, Inc.
  • Sun Healthcare Group Inc.
  • SunGuard Energy
  • The CIT Group
  • Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC
  • Toll Brothers, Inc.
  • Travelers Casualty and Surety Company
  • The Scotts Co.
  • TWA Airlines, LLC
  • United Airlines
  • Trust Company of the West
  • Unison Site Management Corporation
  • XO Holdings, Inc.
  • UBS Securities
  • Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.