Ryan Shea Conrad

I come from San Diego, CA. My passion in public interest work began during my time in the Boy Scouts of America, where I attained the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank attainable in the program, attained by less than 2% of all Boy Scouts. I then attended the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where I received my B.A. in both Sociology and Philosophy in 2007, with a primary focus on law, ethics, and society. While attending UCSD, I joined the newly established UCSD Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD), an International Sociology Honors Society, permitting me to wear AKD honor cords at his graduation. I was also asked to be Teacher’s Assistant for the next semester’s research methods course in the Sociology Department, but I had to politely decline due to other professional engagements. However, prior to attending law school, I accepted an offer to be a Teacher’s Assistant for a new Comparative Social and Political Philosophy Course at Grossmont College.

Last year, I received a J.D. and an LL.M in International Criminal Law and Justice (LLM-ICLJ), from the University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center). While studying under their practice-oriented program, my particular interests included criminal defense and social justice. Pursuant to my interest in promoting the public interest, I had spent nearly half of my legal education assisting and representing indigent clients; I spent two semesters working in the UNH Law’s Criminal Practice Clinic, and one semester working in the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office, one of the top five Public Defender programs in the United States. In my second year of law school, I was asked to be a Teacher’s Assistant in both Contract Law and Property Law. During this time, I was also granted an opportunity to participate in UNH Law’s Mediation Clinic, where I successfully mediated a $10,000 construction case. In between semesters, I took advantage of opportunities to study law abroad, studying Intellectual Property Law in Ireland, and studying Transnational Criminal Law & Comparative Extradition in Curaçao, of the former Netherlands Antilles. In preparation for my legal career, my final courseload consisted of practical skills courses, teaching skills that new attorneys often need, including the Advanced Criminal Practice Clinic, Contract Design, Negotiations, and Law Practice Management. During my time of preparing for the California Bar Exam, I began volunteering with the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and I have not turned back. And now, I am a newly admitted attorney to the State Bar of California.