Philip Adams; Attorney Specialized in Adoptions

Philip Adams, 92, known throughout California as “Mr. Adoption” and the oldest attorney still practicing in San Francisco. Originally from Los Angeles, Adams studied at Pomona College and Hastings School of Law. He pioneered independent adoptions in the state and, over more than half a century, handled 5,000 adoption cases, including at least 2,000 involving Southern California families. In 1956, Adams wrote “Adoption Practice in California,” still considered the definitive book in the field. He was a founding fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a founding member and director of the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers. A San Francisco resident for his whole adult life, Adams was active in community activities, including the Children’s Protective Society, the United Cerebral Palsy Assn. the Assn. of Mental Health, Unified Bay Area Crusade and the United Community Fund. Adams also served as chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of California, director of the ACLU of Northern California, trustee and president of the Graduate Theological Union of Berkeley and a trustee for 25 years of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. On Monday in San Francisco.