Adam represents individuals who have suffered wrongful death or serious personal injury due to medical malpractice and other causes; employment class actions for wage and hour violations; and consumer class actions arising from deceptive advertising and unfair business practices. Along with three of his partners at SGB, Adam received the 2013 Award of Merit, the highest honor from the Washington State Bar Association for his pro bono work representing Governor Gregoire in support of the Affordable Care Act. In 2021, Adam received the Professionalism Award from the Washington State Association for Justice.
Adam has been an attorney with Schroeter Goldmark & Bender since 1999. Prior to joining the firm, he was an attorney with the non-profit law firm Earthjustice for more than eight years, representing clients in environmental lawsuits throughout the Pacific Northwest. Adam has served on the boards of the Northwest Consumer Law Center and the Washington Environmental Council and on the Executive Committee for the William L. Dwyer American Inn of Court. Adam has volunteered as an attorney with the World Wildlife Fund in Vietnam, has been a frequent instructor at National Institute for Trial Advocacy workshops in Seattle, and was a law clerk for the Honorable Mark L. Wolf of the federal district court for Massachusetts.
Along with 3 other SGB attorneys, Adam represented the Governor of Washington on a pro bono basis in litigation defending the constitutionality of federal health care reform, an effort for which the SGB attorneys received the Washington State Bar Association’s Award of Merit. Adam and his partners also successfully defended the Washington Department of Labor & Industries’ increase in the State minimum wage in 2011. Adam was profiled in a chapter of Alan B. Morrison & Diane T. Chin, Beyond the Big Firm: Profiles of Lawyers Who Want Something More (2007), and has been named a Washington Super Lawyer since 2004.
- $25 million judgment for class of immigrants who were paid subminimum wages while working in a privately owned and operated detention facility.
- $4.8 million settlement for failure to timely diagnose and treat occluded stent.
- $2 million settlement for injuries resulting from negligent angiogram.
- $1.5 million settlement for injuries resulting from negligent administration of epinephrine.
- $2 million settlement for family of a recycling plant worker who was killed by an unsafe machine.
- $1.8 million medical malpractice settlement for woman who suffered permanent brain damage from an undiagnosed intracerebral aneurysm.
- $1.5 million settlement for birth injury resulting from midwifery malpractice.
- $1.5 million settlement for injuries resulting from negligent administration of epinephrine.
- $750,000 medical malpractice settlement for injuries resulting from faulty blood pressure device.
- $600,000 medical malpractice settlement for failure to diagnose fetal distress, resulting in stillbirth.
- $11+million in judgments and settlements for armored car messengers and drivers in employee class actions for failure to provide rest and meal breaks.
- $1.7 million settlement following successful trail verdict for factory workers for failure to provide work-free meal periods.
- $1 million settlement for mill workers for failure to provide work-free meal periods.
- $1 million settlement for injuries resulting from negligent electro-cardioversion.
- $2.2 million class action settlements for owners of vehicles impounded by City of Seattle and Washington State Patrol.
- $6.5 million in judgments and settlements in employee class actions for failure to pay overtime wages for drive time in company vehicles.
- Over $3 million in settlements for employees who were not paid properly under the SeaTac living wage ordinance.
- $1.7 million settlement for individual suffering traumatic brain injury when his vehicle was hit by a stolen city bus.
- Confidential medical malpractice settlements for birth injuries and delayed diagnoses of cervical cancer, lung cancer, and prostate cancer.
DISCLAIMER: This is the fine print, but our fine print is regular size and in clear language. These client quotes and settlement/verdict figures are examples of the results we have obtained for others. Their cases were different from yours, so your result is sure to be different. We post these results for you to see that we have a track record of hard work, client service, and trial success. We won’t guarantee the results of your case, but we will guarantee to bring the same passion, skill, and experience when we fight for you.
Education
- Harvard University, A.B., magna cum laude, 1985
- Yale Law School, J.D., 1989
Admissions
- Washington State
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington
- U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals
- U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
- United States Supreme Court
- Northwest Consumer Law Center, Board Member (2013-present)
- Member, American Association for Justice and Washington State Association for Justice
- Instructor, National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA)
- Sacajawea Elementary PTA, Executive Committee (2007–2010)
- William L. Dwyer American Inn of Court, Executive Committee (2005–2007)
- Board member, Washington Environmental Council (2001–2007)
- Washington Trout Conservation Award for Professional Excellence (1998)
- Speaker at numerous continuing legal education seminars on class action and wrongful death cases
- Selected to Washington Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers® (2002-2023)
Adam represented our family and negotiated a very favorable settlement for my father's wrongful death. Adam co-counseled our case with Liz McLafferty, for whom I have also written a review. Liz and Adam were an outstanding team. They worked together very well, and you can tell they have a lot of respect for each other. Adam is a very experienced, skilled attorney, and it shows. He has incredible recall of the specific facts of the case he is working on and wowed us more than once with that ability. Adam was an excellent advocate and got us an excellent result. If my father were alive, he would have been so pleased, and proud of the work Adam did on our behalf. You will not be disappointed if you hire him as your attorney.
Anonymous
I was referred to Adam by another firm who was not willing to travel to Spokane. Adam, after learning about my situation with my employer, took on my case. My employer stated they would have fought the lawsuit if I had not retained Adam with Schroeter Goldmark Bender. My employer settled the class action at nearly 100% of the damages stated in my complaint.
Thanks again Adam. Job well done!
William