Lawyers

Adam Paris is a member of S&C’s Litigation Group and has been a partner of the Firm since January 2006.  Prior to joining S&C, Adam was a Law Clerk to Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and, before that, to Chief Judge Marilyn Huff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

Adam has more than twenty years of experience advising clients on a variety of complex business litigation matters, with particular concentration on antitrust/unfair competition matters, trade secrets litigation, mergers & acquisition litigation and securities litigation. He regularly appears in federal and state courts throughout the country, has first-chaired civil jury and bench trials and handled domestic and international arbitrations through hearings on the merits.  Adam’s antitrust practice has included the defense of private class action litigation, criminal investigations by the Department of Justice, and merger clearances (including four multi-billion dollar transactions) before the Federal Trade Commission or Department of Justice.

Highly regarded as one of the country’s leading litigators, Adam is regularly recognized by such authorities as Chambers USA, The Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal. He has also been repeatedly named a BTI Client Service All-Star, an award which honors lawyers who have “mastered the art of superior client service.” In 2020, Adam was recognized by the National Law Journal as a “Litigation Trailblazer” for delivering successful outcomes in some of S&C’s highest-stakes antitrust and competition cases, including serving as lead trial lawyer in a crucial court battle for Pabst Blue Ribbon, which ended in a settlement favorable to his client. Adam is also a member of Law360’s Competition Editorial Advisory Board (2022).

Professional Activities and Community Involvement

Adam has an abiding commitment to pro bono legal and community services. In addition to litigating a number of pro bono matters throughout his career at S&C, Adam serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations committed to providing legal, educational and cultural services to disadvantaged and underserved communities in Los Angeles.

• Director, Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation
• Director, Friends of the Los Angeles Law Library
• Director, Western Center for Law & Poverty
• Director, The Industry (Los Angeles)
• Trustee, The Country School

Adam is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Chemical Society (ACS).

SELECTED REPRESENTATIONS

Lion Capital –
Represents Lion Capital, Lion Capital (Americas) and Big Catch Cayman in antitrust multidistrict civil and related criminal litigation concerning alleged price-fixing in the packaged seafood industry, and in which civil plaintiffs seek over $1 billion in damages.  Obtained dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims against Lion Capital and Big Catch.

Pabst Brewing Co. –
Represented Pabst as plaintiff against MillerCoors in a $500 million contract and unfair competition lawsuit, arising from breach of the parties’ Brewing Agreement, in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.  Lead trial counsel in three-week jury trial.

Canadian Pacific Railways Limited –
Represented Canadian Pacific Railways Limited (CP) in its $31 billion deal to acquire Kansas City Southern, defeating a competing bid by Canadian National. Successfully persuaded the Surface Transportation Board—an agency that oversees competition in the freight rail industry—to allow CP to use a voting trust, a key component of CP’s successful bid.

Navistar International – 
Acts as counsel to Navistar in connection with its joint ventures with TRATON (formerly Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH), following TRATON’s $250 million investment in Navistar.

Fiserv –
Acted as antitrust counsel to Fiserv in connection with securing clearance, following receipt of a Second Request from the U.S. Department of Justice, of Fiserv’s proposed $22 billion acquisition of First Data Corp.

Ally Financial –
Represented Ally Financial in multiple antitrust class actions relating to trading of GameStop and other stocks in so-called "short squeeze" purchases.

LendingClub –
Represents LendingClub in defense of Delaware Chancery Court and federal derivative litigations arising from the Company’s 2016 restatement of earnings.

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation – 
Acts as antitrust counsel to NSSMC in connection with the operation of a number of its United States joint ventures.

Amgen –
Represented Amgen in merger and related securities and derivative litigation arising from its $10 billion acquisition of Onyx Pharmaceuticals.

Edison International –
Advised a special litigation committee of the Edison board addressing stockholder demands and related litigation arising from the decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).

1st Century Bancshares –
Represented 1st Century Bancshares and its former board members in obtaining the dismissal – upheld on appeal – of a putative class action stemming from 1st Century’s acquisition by Midland Financial Co.—one of the nation’s largest privately-held banks. This was the first ruling validating a Delaware forum selection bylaw under California state law.

FXI –
Represented FXI Holdings in various matters, including a two-year grand jury investigation by the DOJ Antitrust Division related to a criminal investigation of price-fixing of prices of polyurethane foam, and in all related multidistrict antitrust civil class action litigation brought by direct and indirect foam purchasers.

Microsoft –
Represented Microsoft in nine-week Utah federal jury trial in connection with $3 billion Sherman antitrust claim brought by Novell concerning Microsoft’s alleged reengineering of its Windows operating system to hinder Novell’s development of word processing program.  Following a hung jury, the District Court dismissed Novell’s claim.  The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit unanimously affirmed, and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari.

AT&T –
Represented AT&T in a number of merger-related litigations, most recently through a successful state court appeal in litigation arising from AT&T’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Leap Wireless.

PacWest Bancorp –
Represented PacWest in state and federal litigation arising from its $2.3 billion merger with commercial lender CapitalSource.

Barclays –
Represented Barclays Bank PLC and Barclays Capital Inc. in federal multidistrict civil litigation and related investigations arising from allegations of LIBOR bid-rigging.  Obtained dismissal of principal claims.

Evertz Technologies –
Represented Evertz in connection with substantial California trade secret misappropriation litigation.  Defeated two successive injunction motions.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. –
Represented Goldman, Sachs & Co. at TCW/Gundlach trade secret misappropriation trial, in a case arising from Gundlach’s departure from TCW and his establishment of a competing investment advisory business, DoubleLine Capital.