Adam obtains substantial recoveries for clients through litigation.

Prosecuting claims worth millions and sometimes billions of dollars in cases involving novel legal theories and intricate facts, Adam has represented publicly traded companies, municipalities, state attorneys general, institutional investors, and creditors’ committees in an array of affirmative litigation.  In cases spanning the areas of antitrust, corporate governance, insurance, racketeering (or “RICO”), and securities law, Adam has relied on his creativity and his collaborative approach with experts and co-counsel to obtain results for his clients.

Adam maintains an active pro bono practice centered on civil and constitutional litigation.  He is the chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee, and he is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maryland School of Law.  Adam lives in Baltimore.

After law school, Adam clerked for Judge Andre M. Davis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Judge Peter J. Messitte of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

• Representing a putative class of institutional investors as court-appointed co-lead counsel in an antitrust and market manipulation class action against 10 Wall Street banks that are alleged to have colluded with one another to manipulate a credit default swap industry benchmark.
• Representing Nizar Zakka, who was imprisoned in Iran for nearly four years, in litigation against an international consulting firm arising out of his abduction and torture. Zakka’s story has been reported in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
• Representing a publicly traded company against its insurers after they unlawfully denied coverage for a multimillion-dollar settlement of a securities and shareholder dispute.
• Represented a manufacturer of building products in a case against its insurers after they unlawfully denied coverage for defense and remediation costs arising from several CERCLA-designated sites around the country. The case settled on favorable terms.
• Represented a state attorney general in a case against major drug manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies for the alleged over-distribution and deceptive marketing of prescription opioids.
• Represented two hedge funds in a class action against a major accounting firm for its alleged fraud and negligence arising out of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history. The case settled for $27.5 million.
• Represented two public pension funds in an antitrust class action against 11 Wall Street banks that are alleged to have colluded with one another to crush competition in the trillion-dollar market for interest rate swaps.
• Successfully argued before a federal appeals court that federal prison officials violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment when they denied his client, a former inmate, certain medical care. Scinto v. Stansberry, 841 F.3d 219 (4th Cir. 2016).
• Successfully argued before a federal appeals court that a federal inmate’s complaint alleging violation of the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act and the separation of powers should not have been thrown out on jurisdictional grounds. Fontanez v. O’Brien, 807 F.3d 84 (4th Cir. 2015).

• 2011 – J.D., University of Maryland School of Law
  • Magna cum laude
  • Order of the Coif
  • Maryland Law Review
• 2008 – B.A., University of Michigan

• Maryland
• District of Columbia
• Supreme Court of the United States
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

• Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll, High Honors, 2020-2021
• Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland School of Law