Our Firm Luke Ryan
ryan@taxlitigator.com
Phone: (310) 281-3205
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Luke Ryan’s practice focuses on civil and criminal tax controversies, white-collar criminal defense, and internal investigations. Luke joined the firm in 2023, after relocating from New York City to Los Angeles. While in New York, Luke was an associate in a leading tax firm, and he clerked for the Honorable John F. Keenan, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. Prior to joining Judge Keenan’s chambers, Luke was an associate in the New York office of an international law firm that specialized in complex financial and corporate matters. Luke served honorably as an infantry officer in the United States Army before attending law school.
Luke has represented clients in a variety of tax, white-collar, and regulatory enforcement matters. While in New York, Luke assisted in representing individuals and companies under investigation or indicted for alleged fraud, securities, and tax-related offenses, including a defendant who was charged with wire fraud conspiracy, defrauding the United States, and other offenses. Luke also served on a variety of teams representing financial institutions and employees in complex regulatory and internal investigations, he represented companies in civil litigations involving appeals of improper administrative acts by agencies of the City and State of New York, and he second-chaired a pro bono criminal appeal argued in the New York Appellate Division-First Department and subsequent criminal leave application to the New York Court of Appeals.
While serving as Judge Keenan’s law clerk, Luke drafted decisions on dispositive motions and assisted during preparations for oral arguments, conferences, and trials in civil and criminal cases. Noteworthy matters on which Luke assisted include motions to dismiss in a $10 billion fraud and tortious interference with contract suit, $200 million breach of contract and fiduciary duties case, and $100 million insurance dispute; and summary judgment motions in a Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action and $5 million breach of contract dispute, both of which were subsequently affirmed by the Second Circuit.
Luke received his J.D. in 2017 cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, where he served as an Articles & Notes Editor on the Fordham Law Review and competed in the 2016 Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria. While in law school, Luke’s note was awarded the John D. Feerick Award during the Law Review’s 2016 Alumni Dinner, and he authored two other pieces that were published in the St. Thomas Journal of Complex Litigation and the Barry Law Review. Luke graduated from the University of Virginia in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry and a minor in history. He served in the United States Army and Army National Guard from 2002 to 2014. Luke is the recipient of two Bronze Stars and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s Ranger School. In 2013, he authored an article published in Infantry Magazine titled “Lessons from a Change of Command.”
Bar Admittance:
- State of California
- State of New York
- U.S. Tax Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Education:
- Fordham University School of Law
- University of Virginia