Hon. Samuel Adams (Ret.) brings to his dispute resolution practice at JAMS over 47 years of experience as a judge, mediator, arbitrator, special master and attorney. Judge Adams is presently Of Counsel to the law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP.
ADR Experience and Qualifications
- Served as mediator or arbitrator on a variety of matters including contract disputes, business matters, franchise disputes, product liability claims and employment discrimination claims
- Served as special master by appointment of Federal Judges Skinner, Keeton and Mazzone, and several judges of the Massachusetts Superior Court and the Probate and Family Court
- As a judge, he presided over all types of civil litigation including products liability, medical malpractice, shareholder disputes, directors' liability, public employee work actions, and various types of commercial cases including multi-party disputes
- During the 38 years prior to and subsequent to his appointment to the bench, he was actively engaged in the trial and settlement of civil disputes. The civil matters included contracts, eminent domain, medical malpractice, products liability, general liability,
aviation, insurance coverage, real estate, toxic tort claims, environmental litigation and commercial disputes. He has tried cases in the Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and has represented clients in the U.S. Court of
Appeals, First Circuit, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the Supreme Judicial Court
- As a judge, he was active in the pre-trial settlement of numerous cases. (While sitting in Middlesex Superior Court in Lowell, in a two-month period, Judge Adams settled or disposed of through trial, 160 cases)
Representative Matters
- Liability coverage issues and associated damages following the collapse of a crane in the General Dynamics Shipyard, a business-interruption claim of approximately $20 million
- A building construction case involving $25 million
- Suit by an unsuccessful bidder against the successful bidder alleging fraud in the obtaining of a multi-million-dollar state contract
- Served as one of three AAA arbitrators in a contract dispute between a Swiss company and a UK company involving the purchase and sale of a United States division
- Served as one of three AAA arbitrators in a contract dispute between an Italian photography firm, Harvard University and the Getty Museum