Ryan Douglas Houck

Ryan D. Houck is a trial lawyer practicing exclusively in the area of trust, estate, and conservatorship litigation. Mr. Houck’s cases include will and trust contests and other challenges to estate plans, breach of fiduciary duty claims involving trustees and other fiduciaries, trustee accounting matters, and conservatorship proceedings. He represents both fiduciaries and beneficiaries, ranging from corporate trustees to charities to individuals, in such matters through trial and appeal.

Mr. Houck combines zealous advocacy with pragmatism, enabling him to achieve favorable and efficient results for his clients through skillful negotiation, strategic counsel, and accomplished trial work. He offers thoughtful, results-oriented advice at all stages of representation. Mr. Houck is also sensitive to the personal dynamics and non-monetary components of trust, estate, and conservatorship litigation, and he thoughtfully tailors his representation to reflect those case-specific situations and his clients’ goals.

Mr. Houck has been recognized as a Southern California “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine every year since 2016, which is an achievement limited to no more than 2.5% of the lawyers in California. He has also been a speaker to the California State Bar Trust and Estate Section on a variety of trust and estate litigation issues, including appellate intricacies unique to probate litigation.

Prior to co-founding The Houck Firm, Mr. Houck was a partner at Sacks Glazier Franklin & Lodise LLP, specializing in T&E litigation. Before that, Mr. Houck was a patent litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis, where he handled a variety of general and intellectual property litigation matters in state and federal courts, including the United States International Trade Commission. Mr. Houck is also a registered patent attorney.

Mr. Houck received his J.D., cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2011, and received his B.S. in Science, Technology, and International Affairs from Georgetown University in 2006.