Ryan’s practice includes numerous types of litigation, including complex, commercial, land use, business and interpersonal torts, sports, and bankruptcy. He has represented a variety of commercial and individual clients in both State and Federal Courts, as well as in Bankruptcy proceedings, AAA Arbitration, Mediation, proceedings before the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board and administrative proceedings before the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance.

In addition, Ryan provides dedicated pro bono legal services to and volunteers in the Boston community. Ryan co-chairs Sullivan’s pro bono partnerships with the Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC) and with the Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP), coordinating Sullivan’s Associates in taking on pro bono cases with each group. As part of that work, Ryan has overseen dozens of successful cases in which Sullivan assisted pro bono clients form VRLC in obtaining restraining orders from various Massachusetts Courts, and pro bono clients from VLP in receiving unemployment benefits in the face of resistant former employers. He also regularly takes on such cases himself, directly representing clients in both instances, including a case in which he successfully argued a motion in Massachusetts Superior Court to protect a sexual assault victim from being required to provide her medical and mental health records to the defendant in the criminal case against him. Ryan also volunteers for the Boston NextGen Group, which is associated with the Tina’s Wish organization. Tina’s Wish is a charity founded in 2008 in memory of the Honorable Tina Brozman, former chief justice of the SDNY Bankruptcy Court who died two years after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

While attending Boston College Law School, Ryan was a member of the Journal of Law & Social Justice, won a Boston College Mock Trial Competition and participated in the school’s civil litigation clinic and its pro bono service trip to New Orleans. He also interned for Judge Raymond Brassard in the Massachusetts Superior Court and Judge Denise Casper in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Representative Client Work

Litigation Representative Matters:
  • Represents, pro bono, multiple children attending statewide virtual public school in action against Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association challenging arbitrary rule that prevents such children from participating in interscholastic athletics programs
  • Represents developer of proposed 625,000 square foot office building in the metropolitan area defending zoning challenge by adjacent property owners in Superior Court
  • Represents luxury hotel on the North Shore seeking recovery against general contractor for breach of a design-build agreement that resulted in the need for substantial repairs to the hotel’s entire HVAC system
  • Represents landowners on Martha’s Vineyard challenging Conservation Commission decision that disregards WPA and applicable language of town By-Laws, in actions pending in both Massachusetts Land Court and before the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
  • Represented LLC and its board of managers in AAA Arbitration defending plan (approved by majority of investors) to sell certain LLC assets
  • Represented family of African American child in action in United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against Catholic School, Parish, and Diocese for deliberate indifference to severe racial harassment against child by peers
  • Represented private investment company and won summary judgment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to recover approximately $2 million owed under a breached loan agreement
  • Represented national retail chain in successfully defending summary process eviction claim brought against it during COVID-19 pandemic
  • Represented, pro bono, public charter school in Massachusetts Superior Court defending its previously obtained zoning variances for a proposed expansion now opposed on appeal by school’s neighbors
  • Represented victim of domestic violence in intentional torts case against abuser, a former high-profile college football coach, in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado
  • Represented sports commentator in tortious interference case against the PGA Tour in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Bankruptcy Representative Matters:
  • Represented Stalking Horse Bidder in section 363 sale of substantially all assets of billion dollar Debtors in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware
  • Represents agents of EY Bermuda as the Foreign Representative in the Chapter 15 case of George’s Bay Limited in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York
  • Represented 21st Century Oncology Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries as post effective date bankruptcy counsel in their Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and related litigation in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
  • Represented CQS (US) LLC in the Chapter 11 cases of Windstream Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York
  • Represented purchaser buying substantially all assets of Massachusetts golf course through Debtors’ plan of liquidation in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts
  • Represented New York private investment management fund in out of court workout
  • Represented official creditors’ committee of Garden of Eden Enterprises in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York
  • Represented official creditors’ committee of Yosi Samra, Inc. in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York

Bar & Court Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

Education

  • J.D., magna cum laude, Boston College Law School
  • B.A., magna cum laude, Muhlenberg College

Community Engagement

  • Volunteer, Tina's Wish Boston NextGen Group
  • Boston Bar Association

Awards & Honors

  • "Rising Star," Massachusetts Super Lawyers (2022)
  • Boston Magazine Top Lawyers, Civil Law Litigation (2021, 2022)
  • 2021 Up and Coming Lawyer, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Excellence in the Law Award
  • Volunteer Lawyers Project Denis Maguire Pro Bono Award Recipient (2020)

Seminars & Presentations

Practices

Industries

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