Ryan S. Stippich is a shareholder in the firm's Litigation Practice, as well as a member of the White Collar Litigation and Corporate Compliance Group and Reinhart Institutional Investor Services. He represents clients in a wide range of complex civil and criminal matters at both the trial and appellate levels.

Ryan focuses his litigation practice in the areas of securities litigation, shareholder disputes, professional liability litigation, other business torts and class actions. Ryan has extensive experience representing clients such as banks and financial institutions, public companies, officers, directors, actuaries, accountants, investment advisors and other professionals in these types of litigation. Ryan advises board committees consisting of independent directors in conducting internal investigations, disputes with shareholders, or in litigation arising out of strategic transactions, such as mergers or acquisitions. He also represents institutional investors and other companies that have been victimized by fraud.

As part of the White Collar Group, Ryan represents companies in highly regulated environments such as banks and other financial services firms, defense contractors and healthcare companies, providing regulatory compliance advice, defending government investigations and related litigation, such as False Claims Act cases.   

Ryan brings to these matters significant trial experience, including service as a special prosecutor for the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, where he acted as lead counsel in eight trials, including felony jury trials. Ryan has also argued cases in Seventh Circuit and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal.

Ryan is an author of the Securitized Mortgage and Loan Fraud Team's "Mortgage Meltdown" blog, and spoke recently at a seminar called "The Real Costs of Fraud:  How to Prevent it and What to do if it Happens to You" (Feb. 2010) and presented at a legal education seminar called "Contract Litigation From A to Z in Wisconsin." (Lorman Education Services 2007)  

Representative Matters and Experience 

Securities, Financial and White Collar Litigation:

• Representing a public company manufacturer of outdoor equipment in defense of lawsuit by a dissident hedge fund shareholder relating to alleged director and officer liability in a strategic transaction. The trial court granted the company's motion for summary judgment, dismissing all of the hedge fund's claims against the company before trial. 
• Representing a special litigation committee of a publicly traded company in response to alleged breaches of fiduciary duty by officers and directors
• Representing publicly traded companies, officers, directors, investment advisors, and other individuals in SEC enforcement actions and private securities litigation.
• Obtaining dismissal of a $10 million lawsuit against a financial institution alleging its negligence allowed a customer to defraud investors. The decision is Grad, et al. vs. Associated Bank, N.A., 2010 AP 1461 (Wi.Ct. App. June 7, 2011).
• Obtaining dismissal of a lawsuit against an actuarial professional on the pleadings in a case with a potential nine-figure damage exposure. The decision is reported at Trenwick Am. Corp v. Ernst & Young, 906 A.2d 168 (Del. Ch. 2006)
• Representing institutional investors in evaluating securities fraud class actions and in challenging excessive lead counsel contingency fee requests. Ryan successfully overturned a $30 million attorneys' fee award in the Ninth Circuit, establishing new law in class action procedures. In re Mercury Interactive Securities Litigation, 618 F.3d 988 (9th Cir. 2010). The decision was featured in a National Law Journal article.
• Representing manufacturer of equipment for armored personnel carriers in response to procurement fraud investigation by the U.S. Department of Defense

Other Complex Commercial Litigation:

• Obtaining summary judgment for a manufacturer of mining conveyor equipment against allegations the equipment failed causing over $10 million in damages. The decision is reported at Oldenburg Group v. Frontier-Kemper Constructors, 597 F.Supp.2d 842 (E.D. Wis. 2009)
• Obtaining a favorable settlement in defense of an engine distributor against breach of warranty claims
• Representing a manufacturer in the HVAC industry against claims that it improperly terminated a Wisconsin distributor. We obtained a highly favorable settlement at the summary judgment stage

Affiliation/Memberships

• State Bar of Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Law Review (managing editor)
• Worked at the Wisconsin Department of Justice in the Criminal Appeals Division, representing the State of Wisconsin before the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals
• Admitted to practice before courts in Wisconsin and Illinois, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the United States District Courts in Wisconsin and the Northern District of Illinois