Two former partners of Wilmington, Del., law firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP begin the new year with new jobs. Lawrence Hamermesh is taking an 18-month leave of absence from Widener University School of Law to be an attorney fellow at the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporation Finance in Washington. And Alan Stone is now the head of litigation at New York's Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, which he joined from Morris Nichols in 2007.

Hamermesh's move reflects the increasingly close relationship between Delaware corporate law and U.S. securities law. He's a leading scholar of the former, which he has had a hand in shaping, and, along with the rest of the state's corporate bar, an advocate for it.

In 1995, Hamermesh joined the Corporation Law Council of the Corporation Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association, a 21-member group that proposes amendments to the state's corporate law code to its Senate. In recent years, the council has responded to pressure from shareholder activists by amending the code to facilitate both majority voting and proxy access. Hamermesh chaired the council from 2002 to 2004. In 2003, he applied for a seat on Delaware's Court of Chancery, but then-Gov. Ruth Ann Minner selected Donald Parsons Jr. -- another Morris Nichols partner.

After graduating from Haverford College in 1973 and Yale Law School in 1976, Hamermesh joined Morris Nichols and made partner in 1984. He moved to Widener a decade later.

Stone, for his part, becomes head of litigation at Milbank after a highly unusual midcareer move from Morris Nichols. Stone began his career in Wilmington in 1986 as a clerk to Andrew G.T. Moore II, then the chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, and became one of the most prominent lawyers in Wil­mington before moving to Milbank because of an affinity for New York and a desire to expand his practice beyond the often limited role of local counsel. Stone replaces James Benedict, who's now the chairman of litigation at Milbank.

"Alan has been a huge success at Milbank," says Scott Edelman, Milbank's vice chairman. "He is a nationally known trial lawyer and expert on corporate governance matters. In a short time he has played a lead role for our clients in a number of major trials and investigations." Among other matters, Stone has worked on the litigation related to Asarco LLC's bankruptcy and the shareholder suits against Sovereign Bancorp Inc. arising from its sale to Banco Santander SA.