Ryan is co-chair of McGuireWoods’ Appeals & Issues practice group and a core member of the firm’s State Attorneys General Investigations & Enforcement team, helping clients navigate high-stakes appeals, complex trial-court litigation, and sensitive government investigations.
Ryan has served as lead counsel in more than 150 appeals, arguing dozens nationwide, including twice before the Supreme Court. Clients turn to him not only for appellate strategy, but also to shape dispositive motions and preserve critical issues at the trial-court level. His practice increasingly focuses on complex health-care litigation, antitrust matters, and state and federal constitutional law.
Ryan also represents companies facing government investigations and enforcement actions, particularly those involving State Attorneys General. Beyond defending claims, he has significant experience formulating and prosecuting affirmative lawsuits, giving him a strategic, end-to-end perspective on how disputes are built, defended, and resolved.
Before joining McGuireWoods, Ryan served for more than five years as Solicitor General of North Carolina, where he oversaw the state’s appellate litigation and served as lead counsel in its most significant cases. He brings that perspective to his private practice, offering clients a deep understanding of how courts and government decision makers approach high-profile legal issues.
In 2024, Ryan was nominated to serve as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. His nomination drew broad, bipartisan support from law enforcement groups, business leaders, and government officials from across the country. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted favorably to advance his nomination, though it did not receive a vote of the full Senate before the end of the congressional session.
Ryan clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justices David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as well as for Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law School, holds a B.A. with distinction in economics and political science from Amherst College, and was a Fulbright fellow in South Korea.
Ryan is a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law, where he teaches a course on State Attorneys General and has taught appellate practice. He serves on the rules advisory committees for both the Fourth Circuit and North Carolina appellate courts and is an elected member of the American Law Institute. He has written on law and society for publications like The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
- Successfully achieved pleadings-based dismissal and defeated motion for preliminary injunction in North Carolina Business Court case involving novel issues of corporate and equitable-distribution law.
- Represented a major North Carolina-based hospital as a plaintiff against an insurance company for breach of its network health care insurance agreement.
- Represented state officials in both the U.S. Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit, securing unanimous rulings from both courts invalidating a federal intellectual property statute. *
- Represented a public university in the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of its admissions policies. *
- Successfully represented state agency in several high-profile tax appeals, including a closely watched sales-and-use tax case in the state’s highest court and opposing U.S. Supreme Court review. *
- Represented state agency in a significant class action appeal, vacating summary judgment in a case involving over 700,000 employees and billions in potential financial liability. *
- Represented state in jurisdictional challenges under the Due Process Clause, including defending environmental enforcement actions related to chemical contamination. *
- Represented state in a dormant commerce clause challenge, successfully defending its alcohol regulatory framework in the Fourth Circuit and opposing Supreme Court review. *
- Led large, bipartisan groups of states in several high-profile disputes, including a multi-billion-dollar appeal at the intersection of bankruptcy and mass-torts and multiple Supreme Court cases involving the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
- Successfully defended a state’s anti-patent troll law and led a bipartisan coalition of 27 states in defending similar patent-focused laws in the Federal Circuit. *
- Represented state agency in defense of a high-value medical malpractice claim, leading the trial team through discovery, motion practice and a favorable settlement. *
- Served as motions attorney for a technology company in billion-dollar antitrust trial, helping secure a complete defense verdict. *
- Represented multiple large technology and retail companies in securing dismissals of class-action complaints on the pleadings or on summary judgment. *
* Denotes work done prior to joining McGuireWoods.
Events
- Speaker, U.S. Supreme Court Term Preview, October 15, 2025
- Speaker, "PFAS Litigation Update," Contaminants Compass CLE Series, August 20, 2025
Insights
- Author, Supreme Court Ends Use of Universal Injunctions, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, June 30, 2025
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- Named to “Legal Elite,” Appellate, Business North Carolina, 2026