Adam K. Mortara joined 3 Hare Court as a door tenant in September 2020 and is available to accept appointments in U.S. civil rights and intellectual property law.
Adam was previously a partner at Bartlit Beck LLP in Chicago, Illinois, one of the nation’s leading trial practices. While at Bartlit Beck, Adam led trial teams in both high stakes patent matters, as well as in nationally important civil and voting rights cases. At the same time, Adam is a well-known appellate advocate. He has been appointed by US federal courts to argue as invited amicus curiae seven times (apparently the most by any lawyer in US history), and is the only lawyer in active practice to have been twice so invited by the United States Supreme Court.
Since 2007, Adam has taught at the University of Chicago Law School, from which he received his law degree with highest honors in 2001. Adam’s main academic interest has been in the law of habeas corpus, and he has authored numerous briefs on the subject over the years.
Adam defeated the United States Government and the Federal Public Defender in Beckles v. United States at the Supreme Court, where the Government refused to defend the reasoning of the lower court, and Adam was appointed was appointed to do so. The Court adopted the reasoning in Adam’s brief in an opinion authored by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, for whom Adam was a law clerk in the October Term 2002. Prior to that he was a law clerk to Patrick E. Higginbotham of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Adam is perhaps best known as the lead trial lawyer to Students for Fair Admissions in SFFA v. Harvard, a ground-breaking case about the legality of racial preferences in university admissions – which uncovered Harvard’s intentional discrimination against Asian American applicants. The case is currently pending on appeal and has received significant media attention.
A significant part of Adam’s practice is also the representation of state governments. He has represented the Wisconsin Legislature in matters involving legislative redistricting, and represented the State of Texas in redistricting and other voting rights matters.
Adam took a first degree in Natural Sciences on a British Marshall scholarship, an award by the UK Government. Adam is today the Chair of the Selection Committee in Chicago, on appointment from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.
In September 2020, Adam founded Lawfair LLC to focus on civil rights matters, whilst maintaining an active patent law consultancy and continuing his work on behalf of states in voting rights.
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