Biography

Ryan is a skilled business lawyer who listens to his clients and has a practical and rational approach whether working directly with clients or negotiating on their behalf. He helps his clients identify and achieve their primary objectives without spending unnecessary time or expense on secondary issues that are unlikely to matter. This approach has made Ryan a trusted advisor to his clients for nearly two decades, and has often resulted in clients on the other side of a transaction hiring Ryan for future matters once the transaction has been completed.

Ryan works with clients across many industries and practices at the firm. His practice includes:

  • Serving as outside general counsel to early stage and mature companies.
  • Representing executives and fund managers with respect to their employment and compensation arrangements and exit packages.
  • Leading merger and acquisition transactions.
  • Advising investors, investment funds, and companies with respect to financing transactions. 
  • Working with Farella’s private clients on their business matters, such as investments and the purchase of real estate or personal property assets. 
  • Working with family businesses on succession planning issues, including orchestrating the transfer of assets, redefining roles and responsibilities from one generation to the next, and assisting in the education and guidance of up-and-coming family members on the intricacies of the family’s assets.

Ryan is the founder of Farella’s cannabis practice. At Ryan’s insistence, Farella was one of the first midsized law firms in the country to develop a dedicated cannabis practice to leverage over 60 years of experience in other highly regulated industries for the benefit of cannabis and cannabis-adjacent clients. Ryan counsels his cannabis clients to launch, fund, and expand their businesses and address the significant legal and regulatory hurdles faced by enterprises in this industry. Unlike many industry attorneys, he draws on years of experience as a high-level general legal advisor where he has experienced many parallel issues faced by his cannabis clients.

Distinctions

  • Chambers USA: Cannabis Law - Western United States, Band 1 (2019-2023)
  • "Top Cannabis Lawyers" in California (2022) - The Daily Journal
  • Legal 500 United States, Cannabis, Recommended Attorney (2021-2023)
  • "Top 100 Lawyers" in California (2018) - The Daily Journal
  • "Top 40 Under 40" leading lawyers in California (2016) - The Daily Journal
  • Trailblazers in Cannabis Law - National Law Journal (2018)

Memberships and Affiliations

  • Founding member, chair (2018-2019), Executive Committee, Member, Cannabis Law Committee, Bar Association of San Francisco
  • Lifetime member of the National Cannabis Bar Association
  • Member of the National Cannabis Industry Association
  • Former member, Board of Advisors, Sprouts Cooking Club

Firm Highlights

Publication

Employment Law Update for Nonprofits With Holly Sutton

Welcome to  EO Radio Show - Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . Charities, foundations, and their founders often request help addressing employment practices and compliance questions. In this episode, host Cynthia Rowland is joined by Holly...

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Publication

Corporate Transparency Act: A Guide on Beneficial Ownership for Nonprofit Executives

The Corporate Transparency Act, enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, represents a significant shift in regulatory requirements for entities across the United States. This act, set to...

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News

Lawdragon Names 7 Farella Lawyers Among “Leaders in Environmental Law”

Northern California legal powerhouse Farella Braun + Martel is pleased to announce that seven lawyers were selected to The Lawdragon Green 500: 2024 Leaders in Environmental Law . Farella lawyers selected for inclusion: Sarah...

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Publication

California AI Proposal Rethinks Consumer Scope and Recordkeeping

The California Privacy Protection Agency will revisit its  draft  regulations for automated decision-making technology on March 8, including use of artificial intelligence to process personal information. Comment periods should be coming soon in 2024...

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News

Farella Announces 2024 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Pathfinders: Taylor Rottjakob and John Ugai

Farella Braun + Martel is proud to announce that senior associates  Taylor E. Rottjakob and John M. Ugai have been named 2024 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Pathfinders. Pathfinders have been identified as...

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News

Brookfield Forecloses on 2,150-Unit Veritas Portfolio With Uncontested $464M Bid

Restructuring, insolvency, and creditors rights partner Gary Kaplan provided expert commentary in The Real Deal  article, "Brookfield forecloses on 2,150-unit Veritas portfolio with uncontested $464M bid." Read the full article  here  (subscription may be...

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Publication

Nonprofit Basics: Unpacking Prudent Investments, PRIs and MRIs

Welcome to  EO Radio Show - Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . Episode 73 discusses frequently used terms in the nonprofit world pertaining to investment activities. Public charity and private foundation directors and officers need...

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News

Scraping Battles: Meta Loses Legal Effort to Halt Harvesting of Personal Profiles

Alex Reese spoke to Matt Fleischer-Black of  Cybersecurity Law Report about the Meta v. Bright Data decision and its impact on U.S. scraping case law. Read the article here (paywall or trial).

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Publication

Achieving Compatibility Between Solar Project Developers and Mineral Estate Holders

By Dirk R. Mueller , Alyssa Netto , and Will Russ Texas and California lead the country in terms of solar energy generating capacity while also maintaining major oil and gas production operations, which...

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News

Winston Liaw Named a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow

Northern California legal powerhouse Farella Braun + Martel is proud to announce that Winston Liaw has been named a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow for 2024. Winston joins a select group of...

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