Judge in Twitter v. Musk made rare ruling: ordering a deal to close

Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves Manhattan federal court after a hearing on his fraud settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in New York City, U.S. April 4, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/

By Tom Hals and Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) - The judge overseeing Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)'s $44 billion lawsuit against Elon Musk has a no-nonsense reputation as well as the distinction of being one of the few jurists who has ever ordered a reluctant buyer to close a U.S. corporate merger.

Kathaleen McCormick (NYSE:MKC) took over the role of chancellor or chief judge of the Court of Chancery last year, the first woman in that role. On Wednesday, she was assigned the Twitter lawsuit which seeks to force Musk to complete his deal for the social media platform, which promises to be one of the biggest legal showdowns in years.

She already has a track record of not putting up with some of the worst behavior that we see in these areas when people want to get out of deals, said Adam Badawi, a law professor who specializes in corporate governance at the University of California Berkeley. She is a serious, no-nonsense judge.

In contrast to Musk's brash and volatile behavior, she is known as soft-spoken, approachable and amiable -- but a person who also stands her ground. She advocates respect among litigants and integrity at legal conferences.