Joanne Pileggi Pinckney

Jody Pinckney, the firm's founder and Delaware Bar trailblazer, retired on April 30, 2020 after 26 years in the practice of law. In 2007, Jody 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 at Klehr, Harrison, Harvey, Branzberg, Ellers & Weir in 1994, helping to establish that firm's Delaware office, and later, to establish Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen's Delaware office.

At the time she opened the Law Office of Joanne Pileggi Pinckney in 2007, there were very few women spearheading their own firms in Delaware, much less in a corporate litigation boutique Chancery practice. Over the next 7 years, Jody grew the firm to become the only majority women-owned corporate litigation firm in Delaware to be certified in 2014 by the National Association for Minority and Women-Owned Law Firms. In 2015, Jody was named as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

In addition to her successful corporate and commercial litigation practice, Jody frequently accepted guardian ad litem and other appointments, such as receiver and mediator, as a service to the Delaware Courts. Jody was known for her candor, professionalism, perseverance and fearless advocacy for her clients. But it is the friendship and counsel that she offered to countless members of the Delaware Bar, particularly women lawyers striving to follow her in her footsteps that will truly be missed. You'll find her these days in the garden or with her grandchildren.