Edward S. Adams

Edward S. Adams is a corporate and finance attorney who blends big-law rigor with boardroom pragmatism and modern legal-tech fluency. His practice spans public and private offerings of equity and debt securities; mergers and acquisitions of public and closely held companies; loan restructurings and receivables financings; structured finance and complex commercial transactions; and bankruptcy liquidations and reorganizations. He routinely prepares initial and ongoing securities filings for public companies, handles broker-dealer compliance and maintenance, and advises on intellectual-property consultations and acquisitions. When disputes arise, he drafts and files complaints and motions in state and federal courts and represents clients in arbitration—bringing to bear billions of dollars of transactional and litigation-related experience.

Before academia and entrepreneurial ventures, Professor Adams practiced at Latham & Watkins LLP in Chicago and Los Angeles, where he handled sophisticated capital markets, M&A, financing, and restructuring matters. He began his career clerking for the Hon. J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, sharpening the analytical and appellate skills that inform his approach to complex commercial issues today. That foundation—federal chambers, followed by one of the world's leading firms—anchors a practice known for negotiating, structuring, and drafting end-to-end deal documents while anticipating litigation risk and regulatory scrutiny.

An internationally recognized expert in corporate law, entrepreneurship, and commercial law at the University of Minnesota Law School (and former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs), Professor Adams has authored more than forty books or book editions and dozens of law review articles, including in the University of Chicago Law Review, California Law Review, and NYU Law Review. As a commentator for Bloomberg Law and Business Insider, his views have been featured in the New York Times and other leading outlets. He is also the author of From Law School to AI Revolution, a practical playbook for delivering client value in a technology-driven legal market—guidance he applies directly in advising companies and founders on capital formation, acquisitions, restructurings, compliance, and disputes.

Uniquely positioned at the intersection of practice, policy, and technology, Professor Adams was the named partner in two pioneering law firms that leveraged technology to deliver value-focused legal services, anticipating shifts that now define the profession. An energetic entrepreneur, he co-founded a business consulting firm that grew from two to more than two hundred employees and $30 million in annual revenue in under six years. This combination of academic rigor and real-world execution gives clients a rare advantage: a lawyer who can design strategy, paper the deal, navigate regulators, and, if necessary, litigate—moving matters decisively from letter of intent to closing and from dispute to resolution.