WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) -- Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Myron Steele is leaving the bench.
Reuters reported last week Steele will retire from the state's high court Nov. 30.
According to the news service, the chief justice did not give a reason for his stepping down in a resignation letter Gov. Jack Markell received Friday.
Markell told Reuters that he will ask the state's Judicial Nominating Commission to start the process of recommending a replacement.
Steele, who was first appointed to the court in 2000, has served as chief justice of the five-member court since 2004. His current term was set to expire in 2016.
Before his time on the court, he served as a vice chancellor of the state's Chancery Court from 1994 to 2000, as resident judge of the Kent County Superior Court from 1990 to 1994 and as a superior court judge from 1988 to 1990.
The court, because of the state's growing number of corporations, is considered a respected source of corporate law decisions.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.