Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws

Tamika Montgomery-Reeves

Noted expert in corporate law, you graduated from the McDonnell-Barksdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi and earned your Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law. You served as a law clerk for Chancellor Williams B. Chandler III of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

You practiced for four years in the securities and corporate governance department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York before returning to Delaware to open the Delaware offices of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. As a partner in that firm, you focused your practice on corporate and complex commercial litigation.

You have taught at the University of Georgia School of Law, the Seattle University School of Law, and Widener University Delaware School of Law.

Trailblazing member of the judiciary, in 2015 you were appointed by then-Governor Jack Markell to the business-focused Delaware Court of Chancery, becoming the first African American person and the second woman to serve as a vice chancellor. Four years later, you again made history when you were appointed by Governor John Carney to the Delaware Supreme Court, becoming the first African American person and the youngest person to serve as a justice.

In 2022, President Joseph R. Biden appointed you to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the highest courts in the country. You were confirmed by bipartisan support of the U.S. Senate.

Contributing member of your profession and your community, while in private practice, you received recognition for your pro bono service for the Prisoners’ Rights Project. You also served as a subcommittee member on the Delaware Access to Justice Commission. While a judge, you served on the steering committee of a group seeking to increase diversity in Delaware’s judiciary and legal communities.

You have served on the board of the Mother Teresa House and as a member of the Delaware Community Foundation’s Board of Directors. In 2020, the University of Delaware’s Biden Institute awarded you its Woman of Power and Purpose Award.

You have been lauded throughout your career for your legal acumen, work ethic, integrity, intellect, and compassion.

Therefore, under the authority of the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware, I have the honor of conferring on you, Tamika Montgomery-Reeves, the degree of doctor of laws. In testimony thereof, I am pleased to present to you this diploma.

Terri L. Kelly
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
May 2024