practice areas
honors + affiliations
Listed, Northern California Super Lawyers (2010–present)
Led an electronic manufacturer's client team, receiving client's Commercial Litigation Law Firm of Year Award (2011)
President, The Lawyers' Club of San Francisco (2006)
Member, Board of Governors, The Lawyers' Club of San Francisco (2000–2007)
Member, American Bar Association
Member, American Bar Foundation
bar admissions
- District of Columbia
- California
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits
- U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Eastern Districts of California
- San Francisco
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One Market, Spear Street Tower
San Francisco, CA 94105-1596
Phone: 415.442.1194
Fax: 415.442.1001
- Palo Alto
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2 Palo Alto Square
3000 El Camino Real, Suite 700
Palo Alto, CA 94306-2121
Phone: 650.843.7209
Fax: 650.843.4001
Patrick M. Ryan is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. Mr. Ryan concentrates his practice on a cross section of complex commercial litigation, antitrust, class action, intellectual property, anti-counterfeiting/supply chain, and constitutional matters. Over the last 14 years, Mr. Ryan has successfully litigated numerous matters for major corporate clients from a variety of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, software, healthcare, retail, biotech, and real estate. Mr. Ryan has federal and state courtroom experience, including both bench and jury trials, as well as experience with critical law-and-motion matters. Mr. Ryan also appears before both federal and state appellate courts.
In addition to litigating high-stakes cases for major corporate clients, Mr. Ryan provides in-depth business-centric counseling to clients in the areas of antitrust, class action, and anti-counterfeiting. He gets to know a client's business and finds a way to substantially mitigate litigation risk while at the same time helping the client improve its bottom line. Indeed, Mr. Ryan's biggest successes are the ones that will never be read about because litigation never happened. For example, he has anticipated potential risk for clients in the areas of antitrust and class action and has worked with clients to mitigate such risk, or in some instances, eliminate the risk before a lawsuit is filed, saving clients millions in potential lost damages and attorney fees. Also, in the areas of anti-counterfeiting and supply chain security, which often involve antitrust issues, Mr. Ryan's knowledge is uniquely suited to help clients navigate how best to deal with issues associated with counterfeit products in the supply chain.
Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Mr. Ryan was a partner in the commercial litigation practice of an international law firm, resident in its San Francisco office. There, Mr. Ryan led the client team that received the 2011 commercial litigation law firm of the year award from a major electronics manufacturing company.
Mr. Ryan served as the President of The Lawyers' Club of San Francisco in 2006 and sat on the Club's Board of Governors from 2000 to 2007, is a member of the American Bar Association, and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Mr. Ryan received his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1999. While in law school, he was co-captain of the National Moot Court Trial Team and received the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award for Distinguished Achievement in Oral Advocacy and the Weber Moot Court Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Art of Oral Argument. Mr. Ryan was also a research assistant to G. Robert Blakey (Notre Dame professor and author of the RICO statute). Mr. Ryan speaks conversational Russian.
Mr. Ryan is admitted to practice in California, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Eastern Districts of California.
Selected Representations
- Global Network and Communications Manufacturer. Led team and coordinated pool of patent litigation and ITC matters for client and its customers.
- Global Electronics Manufacturer. Led team defending antitrust claims and filed counter-claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Obtained summary judgment in client's favor, which found that plaintiff had violated CFAA and settled antitrust action with client paying $0.00.
- Major Electronics Manufacturer. Led team tasked with opposing class certification for all defendants in antitrust indirect purchaser action, and obtained preclusive sanctions against plaintiffs for spoilation of evidence and the failure to disclose to defendants data and information considered by plaintiffs' experts in formulating their opinions in support of class certification.
- Major Global Retailers. Led legal teams charged with opposing class certification in multiple federal and state jurisdictions and negotiated and drafted major class action settlements, including settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).
- Major Consumer Electronics Retailer. Handled critical motions and appellate work, including briefing before federal and state appellate courts. Led attorney team and co-authored a motion for summary adjudication in the Northern District of California in a novel application of California's litigation privilege, which resulted in a dismissal with prejudice of a major intentional interference counterclaim brought against the client. The matter also involved the application of California's anti-SLAPP statute in federal court.
- Software Developer. Represented developer of active-active source-code replication technology in a dispute with one of its founders, who was also a board member and officer. Matter was resolved quickly and favorably following filing of actions in Delaware Court of Chancery.
- Telecommunications Company. Brought breach-of-fiduciary-duty, legal malpractice, and CFAA lawsuit in federal court against client's former general counsel in an action related to the ownership of key patents. Quickly obtained preliminary injunction and, within roughly three months, brought a motion for summary adjudication, which was granted for legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty. The case settled soon thereafter on very favorable terms.
- Former Governor of Colorado. Appeared as amicus in a successful appeal and presented oral argument before the California Supreme Court in a case involving the jurisdiction and interpretation of California's anti-SLAPP statute.
- Mortgage Company. First-chaired successful two-and-a-half-week jury trial in federal court in case involving complex real estate and contractual interpretation issues. First Nat'l Mortg. Co. v. Federal Realty Inv. Trust, 2006 WL 2228941 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 3, 2006) (order denying FRIT's motion in limine to exclude evidence related to lease duration of ground lease on basis of the parol evidence rule and statute of frauds); First Nat'l Mortg. Co. v. Federal Realty Inv. Trust, (2007 WL 581872 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 26, 2007) (order denying FRIT's post trial motions); First Nat'lMortg. Co. v. Federal Realty Inv. Trust, 2007 WL 1831113 (N.D. Cal. June 25, 2007) (order denying FRIT's motion for reconsideration, holding that Sterling v. Taylor, 40 Cal.4th 757 (2007) directly supports court's admission of extrinsic evidence with respect to lease duration regardless of whether lease is ambiguous on its face. First-chaired two-week bench trial on damages that led to judgment being entered for client in the amount of $15.9 million, plus costs. First Nat'l Mortg. Co. v. Federal Realty Inv. Trust, 633 F. Supp. 2d 985 (N.D. Cal. 2009). Briefed and argued response to Federal Realty's appeal in which the Ninth Circuit affirmed the $16.1 million judgment. First Nat'l Mortg. Co. v. Federal Realty Inv. Trust, 631 F.3d 1058 (9th Cir. 2011).
- International Police Organization. Represented Interpol Pretoria and some of its employees in a dispute involving an alleged $7-plus million fugitive reward related to the alleged arrest and conviction of suspects accused of embezzling $72 million and attempted murder of a famous South African race-horse trainer. Co-authored motion to dismiss that led to the dismissal of all individual defendants, and motion to dismiss amended complaint that led to Interpol Pretoria being dismissed with prejudice on multiple grounds, including that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), 28 U.S.C. §1602 et seq. AR Int'l Anti-Fraud Systems, Inc. v. Interpol Pretoria, et al., 634 F. Supp.2d 1108 (E.D. Cal. 2009).
- Major Insurance Company. Co-tried a three-week jury trial in federal court, which resulted in a defense verdict. Plaintiff was seeking $5 million in damages. Drafted the answering brief in the Ninth Circuit, which resulted in affirmation of the jury's verdict.
- Software Developer. Represented a software developer accused of stealing the trade secrets of a competitor. At the time of the retention, the client was facing a pending motion for preliminary injunction, which threatened to put it out of business. Mr. Ryan led the team on this matter, including mastering the technical issues, researching, interviewing, and retaining top experts. Less than a month after retention, the case settled and the complaint was dismissed with prejudice.
- Major Health Care Company. Successfully co-tried a three-week bench trial in a case involving complex real estate issues, and represented the client in appellate courts on a variety of statutory and constitutional issues.
- European Auto Parts Distributor. Represented client in CFAA action arising out of competitor hacking and downloading client's private members-only Web-based database. Mr. Ryan coordinated with the U.S. Attorney's Office respecting a parallel criminal proceeding that resulted in a grand jury indictment and guilty pleas of some of the same defendants sued in the civil proceeding. The civil action concluded with a substantial judgment being awarded against the former president of the competitor.
- California Taxpayers. Have represented major clients in disputes with governmental agencies regarding the amount of taxes owed.
- Major Retailers. Represented clients in trademark, copyright, and cybersquatting disputes and handled significant matters involving the French Blocking Statute and other similar discovery blocking statutes.
- Arizona and Nevada Dairy Farmers. Drafted and co-argued merits motion for summary judgment on out-of-state dairy farmers' dormant Commerce Clause claim against the California Department of Food and Agriculture on remand after a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in the client's favor. The motion was granted in a published decision resulting in a permanent injunction of the key portion of California's dairy regulations.
- Wholesaler of Fine European Furniture. First-chaired successful three-week jury trial in California Superior Court in case involving complex real estate issues.
- Major Energy Company. Defended company and its officers against breach-fiduciary-duty claims by minority shareholders of a subsidiary company. Claims were resolved successfully after Mr. Ryan obtained an order from the court striking key portions of the plaintiffs' complaint.
- Pro Bono. Filed two 12(b)(6) motions, both of which resulted in the dismissal of claims with prejudice. The first motion defeated a nuisance claim on a novel procedural due process issue (this motion resulted in a published decision, (Swords to Plowshares v. Smith, 294 F. Supp. 2d 1067 (N.D. Cal. 2002)), and the second defeated a similar claim on res judicata grounds. Co-authored opposition to remand motion, which resulted in an important published decision on a novel aspect of federal enclave jurisdiction involving the Presidio in San Francisco. Swords to Plowshares v. Kemp, 423 F. Supp. 2d 1031 (N.D. Cal. 2005). The court then granted a motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissed the case with prejudice. Swords to Plowshares v. Kemp, 2005 WL 3882063 (N.D. Cal. October 18, 2005).
education
- University of Notre Dame Law School, 1999, J.D.
- University of Arizona, 1996, B.A., Magna Cum Laude, With Honors