Thomas C. Ryan

Practice Areas

Thomas Ryan is a trial lawyer who represents clients subject to government enforcement actions, conducts sensitive internal investigations, and litigates bet-the-company cases in both federal and state courts. As a former federal prosecutor, Thomas brings the courtroom perspective when shaping the response to any government enforcement action. His trial-ready strategy has earned him a reputation as a go-to lawyer for companies facing complex white-collar criminal and civil enforcement matters. Thomas is also routinely entrusted with leading clients’ most sensitive internal investigations, often involving C-Suite implications. As an acknowledgement of the breadth and depth of his experience, Thomas has been repeatedly recognized in two categories of Chambers USA and Best Lawyers both for white-collar defense and the energy litigation, as well as The Legal 500.

Thomas complements his criminal practice with a complex commercial litigation practice, focused primarily on the energy and health care industries. In the energy space, he routinely represents upstream and midstream members of the unconventional gas industry active in the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations lying under Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. His energy practice has evolved with the ever-changing technological landscape, leading him to represent a number of traditional oil and gas producers who are embarking into the digital-asset mining industry. As his practice in that emerging industry has continued to grow, Thomas serves on the firm’s internal digital asset task force, which is a cross-practice group, cross-office effort to coordinate and grow the firm’s borderless digital asset practice.

In the health care sector, Thomas is also an active member of the firm’s Health Care Fraud task force, a cross-practice collaboration between the firm’s internationally recognized Health Care and White Collar Defense and Investigation practice groups. As part of that group, Thomas actively defends a broad spectrum of health care providers in various forms of qui tam actions, involving allegations of violations of the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, and Stark Law.

Professional Memberships

Leadership Pittsburgh, 2021 Class XXXVIII

Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Law Student mentor

Independent Director of PLEA Agency, Inc.

United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Tocqueville Society member

WDPA Criminal Justice Act Panel member

American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section member

Allegheny County Bar Association, Federal Court Section member

Energy & Mineral Law Foundation Strategic Planning Committee member

Republican National Lawyers Association member

The Federalist Society member

McCandless Township Republican Executive Committee member

Publications

“BNA Insights: Imbalance of Power: Federal Prosecutors’ Nearly Unilateral Discretion to Resolve Allegations of Corporate Misconduct After D.C. Circuit Panel Overrules District Court’s Rejection of Deferred Prosecution Agreement in U.S. v. Fokker,” Securities Regulation & Law Report, 2016

“U.S. District Court Judge Rejects Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Non-U.S. Company: Lessons for Companies Considering Similar Agreements,” Bloomberg BNA, World Securities Law Report, Volume 21, Number 5, May 2015

“West Virginia is Not the Best Comparison for Proposed Pennsylvania Tax,” The PIOGA Press, May 2015

Education