Founding Partner

Tel: 713.357.5151

Fax: 713.357.5160

aschiffer@sohjlaw.com Download vCard Download Bio

Adam, a Founding Partner of the firm, has built a reputation as a premier trial lawyer, international advocate and leader in arbitral practice. Repeatedly praised by ranking agencies, peers and clients, Adam is admired for his legal acumen, trial skill and ability to take on the most complex legal challenges.

Adam regularly tries high-profile cases for both plaintiffs and defendants across the nation. While his jury verdicts have been profiled by The National Law Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, PRNewswire, CNBC, Marketwatch, The Texas Lawyer, the Houston Chronicle, and many other publications.

Adam’s results speak for themselves. He has tried 26 cases to juries and has arbitrated 21 cases through final hearing.

In the last ten years, Adam has recovered more than $240 million for his plaintiff clients in litigation, domestic arbitrations, and international arbitrations. On the defense side, he has handled matters ranging from bet-the-company cases on behalf of corporations to representing individuals in claims ranging from corporate malfeasance to securities fraud and breaches of fiduciary duty.

Litigating numerous cases on behalf of energy, construction and financial services clients, Adam has tried major cases for a Fortune 50 engineering, procurement and construction company, major oil and gas companies, and national healthcare providers, among others, successfully defending them against damages claims exceeding $1 billion. For plaintiffs, he has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in cases involving everything from straightforward business disputes to a controversy concerning the construction of power plants in Peru.

Highly regarded for his skill as a trial specialist and formidable courtroom opponent, Adam is often hired to take over complex, hard-to-win cases on the eve of trial.

Expert in the arbitral arena as well, Adam has handled both domestic and international disputes concerning the construction of power plants, oil refineries, and offshore drilling platforms, as well as the interpretation of Joint Operations Agreements, farm-in agreements, and other energy industry-specific contracts. He has arbitrated matters before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), under the Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), JAMS, and the American Arbitration Association. His arbitrations have included disputes arising in Argentina, China, the Former Soviet Union, India, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turkey.

Adam started his legal career at the international law firm of Vinson & Elkins LLP, where he worked for 16 years, first as an associate and then as a partner in the Litigation Group handling a wide variety of business disputes. He eventually left Vinson & Elkins to join King & Spalding, where he was co-lead of the International Arbitration Group. In 2007, Adam co-founded Schiffer Odom Hicks & Johnson.

HONORS/AWARDS/RECOGNITIONS:

Houston Bar Foundation Award recipient
Elected by fellow trial lawyers as member to the American Board of Trial Advocates
Ranked by Chambers U.S.A as one of the best in Energy & Natural Resources Litigation and among the best commercial litigators Ranked by Euromoney’s Experts Guide as one of the best in International Arbitration
Recognized by Best Lawyers for International Arbitration
Recognized by Who’s Who Legal for International Arbitration
Ranked AV Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell
Ranked as a leader in international construction disputes by the Cross-Border Construction and Projects Handbook
Ranked as one of the top 100 lawyers in the state of Texas by the publishers of Texas Monthly, “Texas Super Lawyers” 2010 and 2011
Selected by Super Lawyers as a Texas Super Lawyer, 2010 and 2011

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

American Bar Association
American Bar Foundation
American Board of Trial Advocates, elected member
Houston Bar Association
Houston Bar Foundation
State Bar of Texas

PRACTICE AREAS:

Trials and Appeals
Domestic and International Arbitration

EDUCATION:

University of Houston School of Law, J.D., 1986
Honors:
Houston Law Review, editor, 1985-1986
Order of the Coif

Dickinson College, B.A., History and International Studies, magna cum laude, 1983
Honors:
Phi Beta Kappa
William Lennox Avis History Prize recipient

WHAT CLIENTS SAY ABOUT ADAM:

“Impressive on his feet, highly commercial and very well versed in all aspects of complex, high value offshore construction disputes – a good man to have on board!”
– Bill Cruft
Ince & Co Monaco SARL

“Adam has demonstrated the ability to quickly and accurately analyze issues in a lawsuit, and to then convert that analysis into a winning result in the courtroom.”
– The Apache Corporation Legal Team

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS:

JURY TRIALS:

• Retained just four months before trial, served as lead trial lawyer, representing the defendant, an oil and gas exploration and development company, in a conversion and negligence case in which the plaintiff sought $25 million in actual damages and unspecified punitive damages based on a claim that our client produced gas (through casing leaks) from zones owned by plaintiff. After an 8-week jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in our client’s favor on all counts.
• Serving as co-lead counsel, represented the plaintiff on its breach of contract and quantum meruit claims in a construction lawsuit. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of our client, awarding him $34.5 million in damages, the full amount sought. The case later settled for $20 million.
• Represented the plaintiff as lead counsel in a tortious interference with contract lawsuit arising out of a contract to manufacture and wholesale frozen oriental-style dinners. After a six-day trial, the jury returned a verdict of $14.5 million for our client, the full amount sought. The case was later settled for $4 million when the defendant liquidated its business following the entry of judgment.
• Serving as lead counsel represented the plaintiff in a breach of contract and fraud lawsuit involving breach of a letter agreement to purchase a company. After a five-week jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of our client for approximately $16 million.

ARBITRATIONS:

• As first chair, represented the respondent, an engineering firm, in a private construction arbitration in which the claimant/owner of an offshore production platform sought damages of $67 million as reimbursement of expenses associated with certain warranty repairs and for deferred production damages from our client, who designed the unit. Tried for a week, the case was decided by an arbitral tribunal, which awarded the claimant $6.5 million in warranty expenses (substantially less than half of our last offer of settlement to avoid the arbitration).
• Hired just two weeks before final hearing, took first-chair representing the claimant in a breach of contract case involving distribution of electricity to a region of Turkey. Turkish law applied at the hearing, which took place in Geneva. Our client was awarded $28 million, which the Turkish government paid.
• Served as first chair representing the claimant operator of an oil and gas lease off the coast of India in an LCIA arbitration to resolve a joint operations agreements dispute. Indian law applied in the case, which was tried for two weeks. Obtained an award in favor of our client entitling it to sole possession of gas property worth $30 million for a payment to respondent of a discounted book value of less than $4 million.
• As co-lead counsel, represented the claimant-defendant in an ICC arbitration over the construction of a power plant in Peru. Three lawyers with expertise in construction law presided over a two-week hearing and awarded our client approximately $10 million judgment on its counterclaim. The respondent recovered nothing on its claims. The award was appealed by the respondent and affirmed by federal district court. We later settled the case for the full $10 million awarded in the ICC arbitration.
• Represented the claimant as co-lead counsel on a breach of contract claim involving the modernization of an oil refinery in Siberia, in the Former Soviet Union decided under Russian law. Three arbitrators, including a Queens Counsel and then-presiding judge of the World Court, conducted a two-week arbitration in London, England and rendered a final award of approximately $14 million in favor of our client, which was paid in full by the respondent.

BAR ADMISSIONS:

Texas

COURT ADMISSIONS:

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
United States District Court for the Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas