Patrick Martin Ryan

Patrick has represented two of the companies where I have supervised outside counsel—ASML and Cisco. Patrick’s work--regardless of whether it was a trade secret, antitrust, patent, or commercial litigation matter--was exemplary. Patrick knows how to win cases and he wins over and over again! And the ...in-house legal teams, as well as the business executives with whom he worked closely at the companies where I worked, greatly trust his judgment and turn to him to handle exceedingly complex and tricky situations. Patrick brings a combination of passion, tenacity, and creativity to his work that I have not seen from any other lawyer with whom I have worked—of which there are myriad. Patrick also has a way of boiling down complex arguments to their essence so that judges and juries can quickly understand his arguments. Patrick is equally as good in front of judges and juries, but jury trials are where Patrick really shines because everything Patrick does, he does from his heart, and juries can feel that passion. You just can’t teach the kind of jury magic that Patrick possesses. If you have a complex problem that requires brilliant creative lawyering, go with Patrick. If you have a bet-the-company jury trial, make Patrick the voice of your company. He really is that good!

I worked with Patrick on several critical matters where I was a senior executive and the lead internal client legal representative and Patrick was the lead outside counsel. During that time, I went to trial with Patrick in federal court twice and got to see his artistry first hand. Both trials were... truly bet-the-company trials where the entire business was riding on the outcome. Even though the odds were greatly stacked against us, Patrick won both trials in spectacular fashion obtaining a multi-multi-million dollar recovery far beyond our expectations. I had taken the matter to some of the top trial lawyers in California who told me that the case had so many difficult legal and factual issues that it was a "dead bang loser." But Patrick was able to come up with creative arguments that turned our negative facts into positive facts and his knowledge of the law and ability to apply it those facts brought us victory. It was truly extraordinary to watch. Not only does Patrick win at trial, but he wrote and argued our response to the defendant's appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, where he argued against one of the top appellate lawyers in the United States. Despite our adversary's tremendous quality, Patrick wrote better briefs, researched the law better, and argued better than every lawyer that the defendant threw at us. Indeed, Patrick was so tremendous in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that, after the case was final, one of the judges on the panel wrote him a letter praising his oratory skills. I have never seen a better crisis manager or someone cooler under pressure. Patrick thrives on solving complex problems whether in or out of the courtroom and he is the only lawyer I trust with our company's critical issues.