Kevin C. Adam

Partner, Boston, New York

Biography

“Not sure how he does it but [Kevin Adam] operates on full cylinders all the time. Digs in and is up to speed in a matter of moments.”
Legal 500 US

Overview

Kevin Adam is a litigation partner in White & Case's Boston and New York offices and a member of the Firm's Global Antitrust/Competition Group.

Kevin is a trial lawyer who litigates complex matters at the cutting edge of antitrust and intellectual property, including class actions and competitor lawsuits in the life sciences, technology, and e-commerce industries. He also counsels global clients on a broad range of challenging competition matters, such as pricing practices, licensing and co-development agreements, government investigations, and the impact of evolving legislative and regulatory developments.

Kevin is a thought leader on antitrust and innovation. He is an Adjunct Law Professor at Suffolk University Law School, where he teaches antitrust. He is also a member of the Firm's Global Pharmaceuticals/Healthcare and Technology Industry Groups and a member of the ABA Antitrust Section's Pricing Conduct Committee Advisory Board. In 2021, Kevin was selected to Law360's Competition Editorial Advisory Board and, in 2023, was named a Law360 "Rising Star" in Competition.

In addition to his client work, Kevin has an extensive pro bono practice, with a focus on criminal appeals and wrongful convictions. He has represented criminal defendants in federal and state court, successfully overturning a number of convictions in New York's appellate divisions and securing a jury verdict for a wrongfully convicted man in federal court in Massachusetts. He also works closely with the New England Innocence Project.

Kevin graduated from Suffolk University Law School summa cum laude and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Suffolk University Law Review. He has also completed courses in economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management and in global business and negotiation at Harvard Business School.

Prior to joining the firm, Kevin worked at the First District Court of Essex County in Salem, Massachusetts and served as a research assistant for the Honorable John M. Greaney, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

Bars and Courts
New York
Massachusetts State Bar
US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
US District Court for the Southern District of New York
US District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Education
JD
Suffolk University Law School
BS
Suffolk University
Languages
English

Experience

Pharmaceuticals/Healthcare

  • Substantial experience representing innovator companies in antitrust class actions involving allegations of monopolization and anticompetitive agreements, including so-called reverse payment settlements, product hopping, regulatory gaming, and overarching schemes.
  • Successful representation of innovator pharmaceutical company in a series of litigations involving antitrust challenges to collaboration agreements, patent settlements, and new-product launches relating to HIV medications.Secured dismissal of a novel "soft switch" product-hopping theory at summary judgment.
  • Successful representation of an innovator pharmaceutical company in a class action involving the first "killer acquisition" allegations under Section 2 of the Sherman Act and antitrust challenges to license agreements related to neurotoxins for cosmetic use.
  • Successful representation of an innovator pharmaceutical company in a competitor lawsuit involving novel allegations of product hopping and regulatory gaming relating to oral antibiotics for the treatment of acne, securing the first summary judgment ruling in favor of an innovator pharmaceutical company in a product-hopping case.
  • Successful representation of an innovator pharmaceutical company in multiple class actions involving antitrust challenges to a co-promotion agreement and allegations of reverse payment settlements related to a stroke medication.
  • Successful representation of an innovator pharmaceutical company in multiple class actions involving antitrust challenges to new-product launches related to ulcerative colitis medications and oral contraceptives.
  • Successful representation of an innovator pharmaceutical company in a Hatch-Waxman patent litigation relating to an incontinence medication.
  • Secured dismissal of an antitrust claim of "regulatory gaming" involving lawful petitioning of the PTO for a patent-term extension.
  • Prevailed in a number of oppositions to class certification in federal court, most recently in the First Circuit Court of Appeals and the Southern District of New York.
  • Member of a trial team that represented a global pharmaceutical company in a preliminary injunction hearing in federal court in New York against antitrust challenges brought by the New York Attorney General regarding a new-product launch.
  • Member of a trial team that represented a major health insurer in federal court in Washington, D.C. against claims brought by the US Department of Justice to block the company's acquisition of another insurer.

Technology

  • Substantial experience representing companies in litigation involving platform technology, two-sided markets, zero-price goods and services, killer acquisitions, patent thicketing, and other evolving theories.
  • Successful representation of a platform technology company in a competitor lawsuit involving allegations of group boycotts, targeted reductions in innovation, zero-price goods and services, and bundling in a two-sided market.
  • Successful representation of a global technology company in a competitor antitrust lawsuit involving patented speech-recognition software and allegations of anticompetitive patent aggregationand sham litigation.

Commercial Litigation

  • Successful representation of a number of aircraft-leasing companies in litigation related to the seizure of commercial aircrafts for unpaid leasing dues.
  • Successful representation of a client in a dispute to block the sale of rare antiques on an online auction site.
  • Trial counsel in a two-week jury trial in Massachusetts federal court, securing a $27 million jury verdict—one of the largest ever for a single individual raising civil-rights claims related to a wrongful conviction—for an innocent man who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Appeals

  • Member of a number of federal appellate teams representing clients in the First, Second, Third, D.C., and Federal Circuits.
  • Represented an innovator pharmaceutical company in successfully reversing class certification in the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
  • Represented a global search-engine technology client in a patent dispute in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
  • Successfully argued appeals and overturned criminal convictions in New York's Appellate Division, First and Second Departments.

Counseling

  • Deep experience counseling clients on challenging competition issues and business strategies in all industries, including agriculture, aviation, banking, casino, college admissions, health insurance, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, and technology.
  • Advises clients on complex issues regarding pricing practices, particularly in pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
  • Advises clients on state and federal investigations, competitive intelligence, collaboration and license agreements, and preparation for congressional hearings.
  • Supports corporate clients on large transactions, providing real-time counseling regarding potential litigation risks, government investigations, and issues involving pharmaceuticals, healthcare, drug pricing, and intellectual property.
Speaking Engagements

"PBM Price Transparency Bill and Perspectives on the Federal Trade Commission's Renewed Look at PBMs," Medicaid Drug Rebate Program Summit (Sept. 20, 2023)

"Self-Preferencing: Is Tech Different Than Brick-and-Mortar?", ABA Section of Antitrust Law, Media and Technology Committee and Pricing Conduct Committee (February 9, 2023)

"Recent Antitrust Developments: March and April 2015", ABA Section of Antitrust Law, Health Care and Pharmaceuticals Committee (May 12, 2015)

Publications

5 Drug Pricing Issues To Watch In 2023, Law360, December 2022 (co-author with Michael Gallagher and Eugene Hutchinson)

The Intersection of Self-Preferencing and Pricing Practices in the Digital World, ABA Antitrust Law Section’s ‘Price Point,’ June 2022 (co-author with Juliette Caminade and Christopher R. Knittel) 

US Courts Annual Review, Third Edition: Third Circuit Pharmaceutical Cases, Global Competition Review, June 2022 (co-author with J. Mark Gidley, Gina Chiappetta, Dan Grossbaum, Andrew Costello, and Tim Keegan)

United States: Pharmaceutical Antitrust 2022, Global Competition Review, Oct. 2021, (co-author with Michael Gallagher, Eric Grannon, Heather McDevitt, Kristen O'Shaughnessy, Adam Acosta, and Ada Wang)

US Courts Annual Review, Second Edition: Third Circuit Pharmaceutical Cases, Global Competition Review, July 2021 (co-author with J. Mark Gidley, Gina Chiappetta, and Dan Grossbaum)

United States: Pharmaceutical Antitrust 2021, Global Competition Review, Sept. 2020, (co-author with Michael Gallagher, Eric Grannon, Heather McDevitt, Kristen O'Shaughnessy, Adam Acosta, and Trisha Grant)

Most Courts Follow 1st Circ. Generic-Delay Ruling's Standard, Law360, August 2020, (co-author with Michael Hamburger and Abdul Hafiz)

Why A Surge In Drug Pricing Litigation Is Unlikely, Law360, July 2020, (co-author with Lauren Papenhausen and Karen Eisenstadt)

US Courts Annual Review: Third Circuit Pharmaceutical Cases, Global Competition Review, July 2020 (co-author with Noah Brumfield, J. Mark Gidley, Alyson Cox Yates, and Mark Levy)

United States: Pharmaceutical Antitrust 2020, Global Competition Review, Sept. 2019, (co-author with Michael Gallagher, Eric Grannon, Heather McDevitt, Kristen O'Shaughnessy, Adam Acosta, and Trisha Grant)

Understanding and Un-Tying Product Hopping Litigation, Part II: A Reply to Carrier and Shadowen, Antitrust, Vol. 33, No. 2, Spring 2019 (co-author)

United States: Pharmaceutical Antitrust 2019, Global Competition Review, Sept. 2018, (co-author with Michael Gallagher, Eric Grannon, Heather McDevitt, Kristen O'Shaughnessy, Adam Acosta, and Trisha Grant)

Doryx, Namenda, and Coercion: Understanding and Un-Tying Product-Hopping Litigation, Antitrust, Vol. 32, No. 3, Summer 2018 (co-author)

Antitrust Law Developments, Eighth Edition, American Bar Association, Oct. 2017, (contributing author)

United States: Pharmaceutical Antitrust 2018, Global Competition Review, Sept. 2017, (co-author with Michael Gallagher, Eric Grannon, Heather McDevitt, Kristen O’Shaughnessy, Adam Acosta, and Trisha Grant)

United States: Pharmaceutical Antitrust 2017, Global Competition Review, Sept. 2016, (co-author with Michael Gallagher, Eric Grannon, Heather McDevitt, Kristen O'Shaughnessy, Adam Acosta, and Trisha Grant)

Structure or Function? AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. v. Janssen Biotech, Inc. and the Federal Circuit's Structure-Function Analysis of Functionally Defined Genus Claims Under Section 112's Written Description Requirement, 3 Suffolk U. L. Rev. Online 1, 2015

Deconstructing Rule 23: A Comparison of Massachusetts and Federal Class-Action Litigation, Flaschner Judicial Institute, 2013, (co-author with Lisa M. Scalisi and The Honorable John M. Greaney (ret.), Former Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court)

Obviously Obvious: Federal Circuit Reverses District Court's Decision That Online 'Shopping Cart' Patents Are Nonobvious as a Matter of Law—Soverain Software LLC v. Newegg Inc., 1 Suffolk U. L. Rev. Online 9, 2013

Shooting the Messenger: A Common-Sense Analysis of State 'Ag Gag' Legislation Under the First Amendment, 45 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 1167, 2012

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Fails to Require Statistical Analysis for Nonexclusion DNA Test Results—Commonwealth v. Mattei, 920 N.E.2d 845 (Mass. 2010), 44 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 767, 2011

Awards and Recognition

Boston Magazine, "Top Lawyers" recognition for Civil Defense (2021), Civil Law/Litigation (2022), and Antitrust Law (2023)

Rising Star, Competition, Law360, 2023

Legal500, Recommended Lawyer for Antitrust Civil Litigation and Class Action Defense, 2022

Best Lawyers: "Ones To Watch" recognition for Commercial Litigation, 2021-2023

Pro Bono Award for Outstanding Legal Service, 2020

Best Business Article, Intellectual Property Category - 2018 Antitrust Writing Awards

"Litigator of the Week,” Global Competition Review, 2018

Pro Bono Award for Outstanding Legal Service, 2016

Pro Bono Award for Outstanding Legal Service, 2015

Pro Bono Award for Outstanding Legal Service, 2014