Adam Chernichaw
Partner
New York
Adam Chernichaw
Partner
New York
Contact details
Adam is a partner in the Technology Transactions practice in the New York office. Adam’s practice is deal-focused. He is highly regarded by both clients and adversaries alike, as a business and results oriented negotiator who facilitates and structures complex (and often innovative and transformative) commercial transactions to help clients execute their strategic goals.
He represents clients across a number of industry sectors including financial services, social media, life sciences, food services, telecommunications, sports, hospitality and entertainment. Adam has had a particular focus in the financial technology (fintech) and digital assets sectors, representing buy-side and sell-side institutions, users of fintech products and services, and companies seeking strategic alliances and product integrations.
Adam’s practice been at the forefront of innovation and he oftentimes finds himself working for clients that are adopting or collaborating with others to create and launch game-changing technologies. He has extensive experience working on deals in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, digital transformations, information technology and business process outsourcings, cloud and "as a service" offerings, payment processing services (including BIN Sponsorship arrangements, P2P payments systems, and other payment services), mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures.
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted: Bar of the State of New York, 1996
US District Court for the Southern District of New York
US District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Academic
JD, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 1995
BA, State University of New York at Albany, 1991
Related articles
Publications: 07 August 2023
Legal hot takes – the ECB’s Digital Euro
The Digital Euro project is the European Central Bank’s (ECB) response to the changing landscape of consumer payments, driven by the rise of cryptocurrency, payment fintechs and electronic…
News: 21 July 2023
A&O’s patent practices and lawyers secure top rankings in leading intellectual property platform
Publications: 04 January 2023
Federal banking regulators issue joint statement on crypto-asset risks to banking organizations
Experience highlights
Advising a multinational technology company in connection with the launch of its social networking services’ digital collectables product as well as other NFT related products and services.
Advising a financial services and digital payments company in connection with founding the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance, a non-profit community formed to encourage the adoption and advancement of cryptocurrency technologies.
Facebook in connection with various payments matters and its Novi/Diem cryptocurrency project.
Facebook and WhatsApp in connection with various international payments matters, including serving as lead FinTech transactions counsel in the technology, commerce and product integration deal associated with the US$5.7 billion investment by Facebook into Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, India’s largest telecom operator.
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted: Bar of the State of New York, 1996
US District Court for the Southern District of New York
US District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Academic
JD, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 1995
BA, State University of New York at Albany, 1991
Other noteworthy experience
Advising:
- A global financial institution. Represented a global financial institution in connection with advice on a strategic, multi-year partnership with Google Cloud aimed at accelerating the bank’s transition to cloud services and the co-innovation of new products and services.
- A public petroleum and natural gas company. Representing a public petroleum and natural gas company and its IT and services subsidiary for over a year on a strategic outsourcing for systems integration, application development and maintenance for IT systems to run one of the largest integrated chemical facilities in the world. These facilities are currently being built as part of a recently announced US$20 billion Sadara Chemical Company joint venture between the company and Dow Chemical. The transactions include four separate Framework Agreements covering the complete automation of the facilities and integration of the systems of the various facilities that are associated with the project.
- A global financial institution. Represented a global financial institution in outsourcing certain human resources functions (such as recruitment processes, travel and entertainment services, background screening, commission payment and employee benefit plan administration) and "software as a service" transactions.
- Grupo Bimbo. Represented an international baked goods company in one of the largest information technology outsourcing transactions for Latin America.
- Verizon Wireless. Represented Verizon Wireless in connection with the "Softcard" joint venture, with other major wireless carriers, for the development of a wireless payment platform. Work included advising on the structure of technology and IP contributions, vendor selection and negotiation of the sourcing and licensing arrangements with the various parties engaged to build the platform, commercial terms and potential royalty and value streams, as well as the rights as between the venture and the participating carriers and third-party licensees.
- Tribe Mobile. Represented Tribe Mobile in connection with its strategic partnership with the Virgin Group to launch Virgin as a branded mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the Latin American region.
- Global Financial Institution in the outsourcing of its asset management investment platform – one of the largest outsourcing deals of its kind at the time – to BlackRock. The solution offered a highly scalable system with the ability to evolve with the client’s needs.
Published work
-
"Crypto-tunities: Transaction strategies in the challenging crypto markets'", Allen & Overy update, July 13, 2022
-
"Oh no, where's my crypto? What happens to crypto assets when a custodian fails", Allen & Overy update, June 23, 2022
-
Chernichaw, Petrasic, Shukla and Bronfrieund (2018) “The Year of Blockchain: Global Legal Framework Begins to take Form”, SA Financial Regulation Journal.
-
Chernichaw (2017), Introduction and Contributing Author for “Chambers 2017 Legal Developments in the Global FinTech Sector Guide"
Recognition
Adam's experience and demeanour sets him high above most people in his field. His knowledge is wide and current.
Chambers Fintech 2023
He has become a well trusted member of our team, I have been impressed with the manner in which he keeps up with trends in such new territory.
Chambers Fintech 2023
Absolutely amazing. He's not just technically astute but has legal, commercial and practical expertise as well. Adam is one of the best, if not the best out there. He has the acumen, the skill sets and the ability.
Chambers USA 2021
I primarily go to Adam for a lot of the complicated deals because I know it takes a lot of dedication. He is willing to provide the level of dedication that is required.
Chambers Fintech 2022
Awards & accolades
Ranked Lawyer, FinTech Legal: Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies
USA Chambers Fintech, 2021-2023
Ranked Lawyer, Nationwide Technology
Chambers USA 2021- 2022
Ranked Lawyer, Nationwide Outsourcing
Chambers USA 2022
