Ryan Andrew Scates

A Corporate Lawyer Who Cut His Teeth in the Client's Chair

Traditionally corporate lawyers come up through big firms, stretching hourly billing goals, working at the whims of a Senior Partner and climbing the law firm ladder. Ryan Scates came up executing business decisions with his own capital on the line. That is the difference in our firm's approach to serving clients.

Raised outside Atlanta, Scates attended the University of Georgia, spending his undergraduate years working on statewide political campaigns. That work covered every corner of Georgia and provided an early education in the range of problems people face across the state. He stayed at UGA for law school and used that time to accumulate as much real-world experience as possible: a legal fellowship in the Office of Governor Nathan Deal, small business advising in Athens, and family advocacy work that had nothing to do with a traditional law school resume. All of it shaped a particular view of what lawyers are supposed to do.

After law school, Scates went in-house at a sophisticated Atlanta family office. That role was an education in everything. Public equities, senior care facilities, real estate, and other regulated industries, all under one roof, all moving at once. The position revealed how business decisions actually get made and what the downstream legal consequences of those decisions look like when they play out over years, not quarters.

He later co-founded an investment firm focused on distressed debt, skilled nursing facilities, and multifamily housing. He has been the one signing the dotted line on loans, leases, and operating agreements, not just showing someone where to sign. The deals that went sideways taught more than a hundred routine closings. That accumulated experience is the lens through which every client's situation gets read.

Cash flow impact, relationship dynamics, reputational risk, the opportunity cost of a drawn-out fight, and the question that actually matters: what is the best outcome for the business? Scates has sat in that chair and understands the emotional weight of balancing legal counsel on immediate matters with long term, big picture goals. Ryan lives with his wife and two children on Saint Simons Island, Georgia and represents clients across the Southeast.