John Adam (Partner)

Profile:

John Adam is a partner in the Paris office of Latham & Watkins. He is a member of Latham’s International Arbitration Practice.

Mr. Adam has extensive experience representing companies, states, and state-owned entities in high-stake, complex international commercial and investor-state arbitrations under the aegis of the principal arbitration rules, including ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, SCC, and DIAC. He regularly handles disputes under a range of bilateral and multilateral investment treaties and focuses on energy, oil and gas, and construction and technology disputes.

Legal 500 describes Mr. Adam as a “remarkable” professional “with vast arbitration knowledge.” According to Chambers Latin America 2019, Mr. Adam is “active advising on notable investor-state and commercial arbitration matters throughout the region. One pleased interviewee states: ‘I really like John, he’s a great lawyer,’ with another describing him as ‘very dedicated and accessible.’”

Besides speaking English and Spanish as mother tongues, Mr. Adam is fluent in French and Portuguese.

Experience:

Mr. Adam’s significant recent experience includes representing:
Investment arbitration

• The Republic of Colombia in three ICSID arbitrations brought respectively by Eco Oro Minerals Corp, Red Eagle Exploration Ltd. and Galway Gold Inc., under Chapter 8 of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The disputes relate to the adoption of certain regulatory measures in the gold mining sector, intended to protect páramo (moorland) ecosystems.
• Novenergia in an arbitration against the Kingdom of Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), seated in Stockholm, concerning changes to the feed-in tariff scheme. In addition to awarding Novenergia compensation of €53.3 million (close to the total damages claimed), the arbitral tribunal also ordered the Kingdom of Spain to pay Novenergia’s arbitration costs.
• A State in an ICSID arbitration regarding a gold and mining concern located in Latin America.
• A Latin American State in an UNCITRAL arbitration brought by an investor concerning the alleged elimination of tax benefits in the oil & gas mid-stream industry and the alleged violation of the FET standard and Stability clauses in an investment contract for the construction and operation of an oil pipeline.

Commercial arbitration

• A State-owned company, as the respondent in an ICC arbitration seated in London brought by a subsidiary of an Asian State-owned oil and gas company. The dispute concerns a joint venture to modernize and expand a refinery in Latin America.
• A consortium of six entities electromechanical suppliers in ICC proceedings in Sao Paulo, under Brazilian law and arbitrated in Portuguese, in a substantial construction arbitration against the owner of a major hydroelectric project and the main contractor.
• A NOC as the respondent in two LCIA arbitrations seated in London, brought by a South American oil and gas company. The disputes involve complex claims under a Joint Operating Agreement regarding inter alia the allegedly grossly negligent operation of an offshore facility.
• The affiliates of a major European engineering services and construction management company as claimants in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris against a European oil and gas company. The dispute concerned an EPCm contract regarding the construction of a refinery in Europe. The tribunal rendered an award granting our client extensive damages and ordering the respondent to defray the entirety of our client’s costs in the arbitration.
• A European construction company as claimant in an ICC arbitration venued in Miami under New York law concerning a breach of contract for the construction of a major hydroelectric project.

Arbitrator appointments

• Sole arbitrator in dispute relating the termination of a hospitality services contract. Seat of arbitration: Madrid. Language of the arbitration: Spanish.