Squire Patton Boggs continues the expansion of its International Dispute Resolution (IDR) Practice with the addition of John Adam, who joins the firm in Paris as a partner from Latham & Watkins.

Mr. Adam joins the firm during a period of rapid growth of its IDR Practice, which now stands at more than 140 practitioners across 20 countries. It has added new team members in New York, Dubai, Milan and, most recently, in Singapore, with the arrival of Rodman Bundy and Alvin Yap earlier this month. He also becomes the third IDR partner to join the Paris office, following the addition of Sabrina Aïnouz and Jérôme Lehucher in October. Named International Arbitration Group of the Year by Law360, the firm is known for its high-profile, first-of-a-kind victories and is currently handling 125 active arbitrations involving more than US$45 billion in claims.

Mr. Adam has extensive experience representing companies, states and state-owned entities in high-stakes, complex international commercial and investor-state arbitrations under the leading arbitration rules. He has handled more than 75 commercial and investment disputes under a range of bilateral and multilateral investment treaties and focuses on energy, oil and gas, renewables and construction and technology disputes. Mr. Adam also has a particular focus in Latin America and is widely regarded as one of the leading international arbitration practitioners in that region.

“John is a highly respected arbitration specialist, someone we know well and have admired for some time,” said Stephen Anway, global co-leader of the IDR Practice. “John’s skills in this field are rare and highly specialized. His vast arbitration knowledge and connections across key jurisdictions will add to the strength of our market-leading team globally, while expanding our strong international disputes practice in Paris, which is key to the continued development of our services in international arbitration.”

Mr. Adam is admitted to practice in England and Wales (Barrister), Paris and Spain. He is dually trained in common and civil law and is one of the few arbitrator practitioners who can genuinely claim to be bicultural across both disciplines. He is bilingual in English and Spanish, and fluent in French and Portuguese. A consummate advocate, Mr. Adam regularly pleads in all four languages. Mr. Adam also serves as an arbitrator and lectures on international arbitration at several universities in Paris. He has been named a “Future Leader” for Arbitration by Who’s Who Legal and a Next Generation Lawyer by The Legal 500 Latin America.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Adam said, “I am thrilled to join Squire Patton Boggs’s international arbitration group. I am particularly attracted to the firm’s ambitious vision and plans to develop even further what is already a global arbitration powerhouse – Squire Patton Boggs takes seriously and prioritizes international arbitration. I can’t wait to start working with this talented team, composed of leaders in the field who are already acting on some of the biggest investment, mining, energy and construction arbitrations, which are my own areas of focus.”

“John is regarded as one of the leading international arbitration practitioners in Latin America and his work representing sovereigns in the region in investment treaty arbitrations is highly synergistic with the work that we already do in this area,” said George von Mehren, co-leader. “Our practice is experiencing increasing client demand as evidenced by John’s appointment. His addition will add to the bench strength of our team and also give us access to important new clients.”

IDR partner Carole Sportes, who leads the firm’s Paris office, commented, “We are delighted to welcome John. Working alongside our highly experienced team, John will help us continue to grow our profile in Paris and his knowledge and expertise will be valued highly by our clients.”

Squire Patton Boggs was named “International Arbitration Practice of the Year” by Law360 in 2020. The firm is also recognized as a GAR 30 firm in Global Arbitration Review’s prestigious annual ranking of the top 30 international arbitration practices in the world.