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Adam Derman is the co-chair of Wolff & Samson's Litigation Group. He regularly serves as lead counsel in trials, injunction proceedings, arbitrations and appeals. Adam also counsels clients and provides strategic advice to resolve complex and often sensitive business disputes without having to proceed with litigation.

At Wolff & Samson, Adam’s business dispute and commercial litigation practice includes trade secret and intellectual property litigation; shareholder disputes; environmental litigation; real estate disputes including complicated title insurance claims; ERISA; breach of fiduciary duty litigation; probate litigation; and franchise litigation. He has been appointed by state and federal court judges to the positions of discovery master, receiver and guardian.

Adam recently secured a $2.5 million settlement for a financial services firm whose owner was falsely accused of stealing trade secrets. The settlement was widely reported in trade publications and on the front page of the New Jersey Law Journal.

In intellectual property matters, Adam’s experience includes representing several international recording artists, as well as brand name apparel and sneaker companies in trademark disputes throughout the country. Adam also represents – as assigned counsel by national insurance companies or as direct counsel – a variety of regional businesses in trademark, copyright and patent litigation. Reported decisions include: Machine Head v. Dewey Global Holdings, Inc., 61 U.S.P.Q.2d 1313 (N.D. CA. 2001); and Cleanox Environmental Services, Inc. v. Hudson Environmental Services, Inc., 14 F.Supp.2d 601 (D.N.J. 1998).

Additional cases of note include:

• Securing a judgment of liability and a dismissal of all counterclaims on behalf of an international food distributor who sued a senior level employee for disclosing confidential sales information to a potential competitor and then faced counterclaims for wrongful discharge and whistleblower violations.
• Successfully representing major national title insurance companies in multimillion- dollar fraud cases, mortgage priority disputes and other complex title insurance matters in New Jersey
• Representing a national carrier defending policyholder claims brought in courts throughout New York and New Jersey for denial of benefits under group policies governed by ERISA, all of which were resolved by summary judgment, dismissal, or settlement favorable to the client
• Providing representation and counsel to many successful New Jersey- and New York-based businesses and helping them resolve disputes without litigation
• Securing a preliminary injunction for a professional services firm that prohibited a former partner from soliciting customers and employees of the firm, despite the absence of a restrictive covenant or non-compete agreement

Prior to joining Wolff & Samson, Adam was in the litigation department of the Washington, D.C., office of Baker & Hostetler.

Adam is a trustee of the Federal Bar Association and serves as chair of the General Equity Section of the Essex County Bar Association. A member of Wolff & Samson’s Management Committee, he was recently selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Commercial Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation, Labor & Employment Litigation, Real Estate Litigation and Trusts & Estates Litigation. Adam was listed in New York Magazine as one of the New York area’s top commercial litigators and is listed in New Jersey Super Lawyers. He has an AV® rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest ranking of both ethical standards and legal ability that Martindale awards.