Adam Polk is a partner at Girard Sharp who takes a client-focused approach to each matter he handles. A devoted and experienced advocate, Adam concentrates his practice on complex consumer, securities, and antitrust class actions. Adam’s experience covers all aspects of civil litigation, from initial case investigation and complaint preparation through settlement or trial.
Adam currently serves as co-lead counsel in In re Subaru Battery Drain Litigation (an ongoing consumer protection action concerning defective batteries in Subaru vehicles); and In re Maxar Technologies Inc. Shareholder Litigation (an action alleging violations of the Securities Act of 1933). He also serves as part of the co-lead counsel teams in In re California Gasoline Spot Market Antitrust Litigation (an antitrust class action alleging manipulation of the spot market for gasoline in California); In re Pacific Fertility Center Litigation (a product defect mass action related to the alleged failure of an IVF tank holding human eggs and embryos); In re PFA Insurance Marketing Litigation (a consumer protection class action alleging the unfair and deceptive sale of life insurance). Adam also serves as a court-appointed executive committee member in In re Allergan Biocell Textured Breast Implant Products Liability Litigation (a multidistrict litigation centering on allegedly defective breast implants pending in the District of New Jersey).
Recently, Adam served as part of the trial team in the first In re Pacific Fertility Center Litigation trial. In a landmark result, the jury awarded approximately $15 million for the loss of four families’ eggs and embryos. Adam also served on the lead counsel teams in several recent cases that resolved favorably for his clients, including Bentley v. LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. and Sosenko v. LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. (class actions alleging that LG’s refrigerators are defective and prone to premature failure); and In re Nexus 6P Products Liability Litigation and Weeks v. Google LLC (two consumer class actions against Google relating to defective mobile phones, which resolved for a combined $17 million). Adam was also instrumental in achieving substantial settlements for his clients in In re Sears Holdings Corporation Stockholder and Derivative Litigation ($40 million settlement) and Daccache v. Raymond James Financial, Inc. ($150 million partial settlement).
Before joining the firm, Adam worked as an associate with a mid-sized regional firm, where he represented both plaintiffs and defendants.
Adam is the chair of the American Bar Association’s Class Action and Derivative Suits committee, where he is a frequent contributor of written and verbal content regarding emerging issues in class action litigation. Recent articles include: Ninth Circuit: Central District of California’s 90-Day Deadline to Move for Class Certification Incompatible with Rule 23, American Bar Association Practice Points, October 2018, Fourth Circuit, No Presumption of Timeliness Where One Class Action Plaintiff Moves to Intervene in Another Class Action Prior to the Opt-Out Deadline, American Bar Association Practice Points, July 2018, California Supreme Court: Unnamed Class Members Must Intervene or Move to Vacate to Gain Right to Appeal Class Settlements, American Bar Association Practice Points, May 2018.
Adam was elected in 2021 as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has been selected by his peers as a Northern California Super Lawyer, Rising Star every year since 2013. National Trial Lawyers has recognized him as a “Top 40 Under 40” attorney every year since 2019, and named him one of the Top 25 Class Action Trial Lawyers in California in 2022. Adam was named to Best Lawyers’ “Ones to Watch” list in 2021 and 2022, and honored in 2022 as a “Rising Star of the Plaintiffs Bar” by the National Law Journal.
Practice Areas
Antitrust
Consumer
Finance
Insurance
Investments
Sexual Abuse and Women’s Advocacy
Clerkships
Externed for Northern District of California Judges Sandra Brown Armstrong and Claudia Wilken
Education
J.D., University of California Hastings, College of the Law
Best Oral Advocate Award
Best Brief Award
Moot Court Team chair
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Admissions
California
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Northern District of California
Central District of California
