Ryan Ray is a litigator, handling both civil and criminal cases at both the trial and appellate levels in state and federal court. Mr. Ray has served as lead trial counsel in complex oil and gas litigation (including class actions), federal criminal proceedings of a wide range, proceedings before the IRS and the United States Tax Court, class actions involving the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and zoning and regulatory matters in state and federal courts. Mr. Ray has tried numerous bench and jury trials to verdict as lead counsel, securing a defense verdict in a trade secret misappropriation case in 2022 in the District Court of Tulsa County, where more than $3,000,000 in damages were sought.

Mr. Ray has also served as lead appellate counsel in matters before the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, obtaining significant relief in criminal matters, obtaining the affirmance of dismissal of a personal injury claim in which more than $10,000,000 in damages were sought, and successfully defending an initiative petition regarding proposed funding of a teacher pay raise against three separate constitutional and statutory challenges.

Mr. Ray also served as co-counsel in an oil-and-gas class action appeal in which the trial court’s judgment of $119,522,750—entered following a jury verdict—was reduced to $3,650,000. Since 2021, Mr. Ray has served as an Adjunct Settlement Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Prior to pursuing a law degree, Mr. Ray studied at the London School of Economics and served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. During law school, Mr. Ray served as the Executive Editor of the Arkansas Law Review. Mr. Ray also served as a research assistant to Professor Ned Snow during his law-school studies, assisting in research on copyright law, Internet law, and First Amendment jurisprudence.

Mr. Ray also participated in a variety of intra- and inter-scholastic competitions while in law school. Mr. Ray was the champion of the 2006 University of Arkansas Negotiations Competition, a two-time semi-finalist in the intra-school Client Counseling Competition, the runner-up oralist in the 2006 Fall Moot Court Competition, and a finalist in the 2007 Benjamin J. Althemier Spring Moot Court Competition. Mr. Ray was also a member of the University of Arkansas School of Law’s Traveling Teams for the 2006 ABA Negotiations Competition, the 2007 National Moot Court Competition, and the 2008 ATLA Student Trial Advocacy Competition.