Adam Hansen
Adam Hansen (612.927.2969 / adam@apollo-law.com) founded Apollo Law in 2016 to help advance the rights of employees and consumers in appellate litigation.
In 2014 and 2015, Adam successfully sought Supreme Court review of a D.C. Circuit opinion siding with the banking industry over ordinary employees. In Nickols v. Mortgage Bankers Association, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Adam's clients' favor. The case resolved a seminal issue of administrative law, establishing that federal agencies may revise their interpretative rules without going through notice-and-comment rulemaking. (Opinion / Opening brief / Reply / Petition for Certiorari)
In 2017 and 2018, Adam represented a proposed class of employees before the U.S. Supreme Court in Lewis v. Epic Systems, a case presenting the question of whether the National Labor Relations Act prohibits employers from forcing employees to resolve employment-related disputes through individual arbitration. (Briefing)
In another high-profile appeal briefed and argued by Adam, the Sixth Circuit in Monroe v. FTS affirmed a jury verdict in favor of a class of cable installers. The court re-affirmed the use of representative proof in establishing liability and damages, reinforcing the crucial avenues available to employees to band together and challenge an employer's unlawful policies. (Opinion / Merits Brief / Opposition to Certiorari)
Throughout his practice, Adam has litigated numerous cases advancing the rights of employees and consumers in the Supreme Court as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits. For a more detailed description of Adam's representative work, see here.
Adam dedicates a significant amount of his time and energy to pro bono work and community service, with a particular emphasis on cases involving low wage and vulnerable workers. Adam served as lead counsel in two class action cases challenging the pay practices in the retail janitorial industry. Both cases, Alvarez v. Diversified Maintenance Systems and Hussein v. Capital Building Services Group, resulted in favorable class-wide settlements including mandatory changes to the companies' employment practices moving forward. Adam has been appointed as counsel in multiple cases by the Pro Se Project, a program run by the Minnesota Federal District Court that matches pro se litigants with qualified volunteer attorneys—including the Project's first appointment to represent an indigent client before the Eighth Circuit. Adam serves as a volunteer lawyer for the Legal Aid Housing Clinic and as an attorney adviser to the Legal Aid Society's Employment Law Center. Adam serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School teaching a course on Federal Jurisdiction. He has also taught numerous courses on appellate practice and legal writing.
Adam is active in numerous bar and community organizations. He serves as the Vice President of Membership for the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and as an active member of the American Bar Association, Eighth Circuit Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, American Association for Justice, and National Employment Lawyers Association. Adam has coached baseball for the Minneapolis Youth Baseball Association. He sits on the Books For Africa Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative Advisory Board and the board of directors of Wilderness Classroom, a non-profit organization promoting environmental conservation through elementary school education.
Before entering private practice, Adam clerked for Chief Justice Eric Magnuson of the Minnesota Supreme Court and Judge Kermit Bye of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Adam graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School with high honors. During law school, Adam served as an Article Editor for the Minnesota Law Review and as a constitutional law student instructor to Professor Dale Carpenter.
Outside the practice of law, Adam can be found camping in the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness, eating street food in foreign countries, and spending time with his family.