PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Ali Adams has over thirteen years of commercial litigation experience, handling matters in state and federal court, and in arbitration. Her primary areas of practice are in surety, construction defect, bankruptcy, employment liability, and general commercial litigation. She possesses Martindale-Hubbell's AV rating, its highest rating for professional competence and ethics.

Ali graduated from Florida State University in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Political Science. She then attended Tulane Law School, where she graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif in 1993. While at Tulane, Ali served on the Moot Court Board.

Ali has handled all aspects of construction defect and surety claims. Her experience includes the negotiation of tender and takeover agreements; negotiations with completion contractors; default, contract balance and recovery issues in the context of contractor bankruptcies; litigation with owners; indemnity and third party recovery actions, including actions against design professionals; and defense of payment bond claims. Ali has handled defaults on public and private projects ranging in size from $100,000.00 to $25 million. She further has significant experience in dealing with public bodies such as the United States Army Corps of Engineers, departments of transportation and development, housing authorities, dock boards and port authorities, school boards, and state universities. Ali is admitted to the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Ali's practice also includes significant bankruptcy experience representing creditors in pursuing secured claims, securing DIP financing, representing competing plan proponents, litigating plan issues, defending preference actions, lifting the automatic stay and protecting cash collateral, and litigating adversary proceedings, including successful objections to dischargeability. She has successfully secured the surety's right to contract balances and affirmative claims in various bankruptcy courts.

Ali's employment practices experience includes the defense of age and gender discrimination and wrongful termination claims, and enforcement of employee non-competition agreements.

Ali has also handled a wide-range of commercial disputes including lease disputes, partnership dissolution, and agent misrepresentation claims.

In addition to her commercial litigation practice, Ali has provided pro bono legal service to children in abuse and neglect cases for over ten years. She is dedicated to insuring that the smallest members of society are heard and protected.

In 2006, Ali joined Mills Paskert Divers P.A. Her practice includes construction, fidelity, and surety, employment practices and general commercial litigation, and bankruptcy.

MEMBERSHIPS AND CERTIFICATIONS

Admitted to Practice in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Court of Federal Claims and the United States Supreme Court

The American Bar Association

• Tort and Insurance Practice Section
  1. Fidelity and Surety Law Committee
  2. Co-Chair of the Young Professionals Subcommittee, 2006 - 2008
  3. Membership Chair of the Young Professionals Subcommittee, 2005 - 2006

Surety Claims Institute

Gulfcoast Fidelity and Surety Institute

ILLUSTRATIVE REPORTED DECISIONS

United Rentals Highway Technologies v. The St. Paul Surety, 852 So.2d 1200 (La.App. 2nd Cir. 2003).

Noble v. Federal Ins. Co., 322 B.R. 610 (E.D. La. 2005).

SPEECHES AND PUBLICATIONS

Elimination of Loss of Society Damages in General Maritime Law, Tulane Maritime Law Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2, Spring 1992, winner of the Robert B. Acomb case note award.

Pursuing the Third Party Pocket -- Recovery by the Surety Against Design Professionals, Agents, CPAs and Others, Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference, 2000.

The Uncooperative Owner: the Surety's Defenses When the Owner Unilaterally Completes, Overpays, or Otherwise Misbehaves, with Ms. Courtney Wolffe of Zurich, NA, Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference, 2001.

Speaker at a National Business Institute Seminar on Bankruptcy Law, 2001.

Strategies for Direct and Cross-examination, International Association of Defense Counsel at the ABA Mid-Winter Meeting, January, 2004.

When the Principal gives you Lemons, Make Lemonade – Turning the Principal's Chapter 11 filing to the Surety's Advantage, Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference, 2004.

Third Party Recovery, Gulf Coast Fidelity & Surety Conference, 2004.

Bonding Shipyard Construction, or How to Tell the Home Office the Project has been Towed to Mexico, with Mr. David Krebs, Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference, 2005.

Beyond the Bounds of the Bond – A Surety's Exposure to Extra-Contractual Damages, Gulf Coast Fidelity & Surety Conference, 2005.

Workshop on Complex Payment Bond Claim Issues, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee of the American Bar Association, Spring, 2006.

Force Majeure Clause in Relation to Recent Hurricanes, at the Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference, 2006.

Selling the Surety Case – Effective Use of Expert Witnesses, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee of the American Bar Association Mid-Winter Meeting, January 2007.

Co-Author, Recent Developments in Fidelity and Surety Law, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal, Winter 2007, Volume 42, Number 2.

Moderator, The Butterfly Effect: How Surety and Fidelity Claims Handler's Responses Shape Perceptions, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee of the American Bar Association Mid-Winter Meeting, January 2008.