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Thomas C. Ryan
Thomas C. Ryan

Thomas C. Ryan

Managing Partner, Pittsburgh Office
Pittsburgh
+1.412.355.8335
Email Thomas C. Ryan @ thomas.ryan@klgates.com
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Thomas Ryan is a first-chair trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor who represents energy, manufacturing, and healthcare companies in bet-the-company litigation, class actions, internal investigations, and government enforcement matters. He advises boards, senior executives, and legal and compliance teams when criminal, civil, regulatory, and reputational risks converge.

Thomas leads complex litigation involving oil and gas royalties, mineral rights, commercial contracts, environmental obligations, government contracting, and healthcare billing. His recent work includes serving as lead counsel in significant federal class actions involving Marcellus and Utica shale assets, royalty payments, and mineral interests.  

Thomas also conducts sensitive internal investigations and defends clients in grand jury investigations, regulatory enforcement actions, and parallel criminal and civil proceedings. His matters have involved alleged fraud, executive misconduct, the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, environmental enforcement, public procurement, and financial controls. Before returning to the firm, Thomas served as an assistant US attorney, where he tried numerous cases to verdict and argued appeals before the Fourth Circuit.

In recognition of the depth and breadth of his practice, Thomas has been repeatedly recognized by Chambers USA in three categories, including Band 1 rankings in two categories; by The Best Lawyers in America® for both white-collar defense and energy litigation; and by The Legal 500 United States.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

Thomas began his career at K&L Gates, representing clients in complex commercial litigation, including during a year-long secondment with an international construction company working with an Italian joint-venture partner to design and build an offshore gas-to-liquids facility in the Niger Delta. He later served as an assistant US attorney in the White Collar Crime Section of the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, where he tried numerous cases to jury verdict, argued appeals before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and prosecuted political corruption, business fraud, money laundering, tax offenses, and other federal crimes. He returned to K&L Gates in 2014.

Thomas has also been selected for significant public matters. In 2015, he served as special counsel to the Pennsylvania State Senate’s bipartisan Special Committee on Senate Address, which considered the removal of then-Attorney General Kathleen Kane. In 2018, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia engaged him to coordinate the court’s cooperation with multiple federal grand jury investigations and related impeachment proceedings involving alleged misconduct by sitting members of the court. Recently, Thomas assisted a state court judge in obtaining complete exoneration in a high-profile judicial ethics investigation.

Thomas’s investigations experience includes guiding a global nuclear engineering company through a cross-border internal accounting-fraud investigation, a multibillion-dollar bankruptcy, and parallel federal and state criminal investigations. He led a multidisciplinary team conducting multilingual document reviews and interviews, helped the company obtain an audited balance sheet and emerge from bankruptcy, and ultimately secured federal and state prosecution declinations for the company. 

Thomas also devotes substantial time to pro bono and community service, including mentoring law students through the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and serving on the boards of Leadership Pittsburgh, March of Dimes, and Devereux/PLEA, a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

  • Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2023-2024, 2027
    • Criminal Defense: White-Collar
    • Litigation - Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy)
  • Recognized by Chambers USA 
    • Energy & Natural Resources in Pennsylvania, 2021-2026
    • Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations in Pennsylvania, 2020-2026
    • Oil & Gas Litigation, USA - Nationwide, 2026
  • Recognized by The Legal 500 United States as a Recommended Lawyer 
    • Energy Litigation: Oil & Gas – Mid-Market ($0-250m), 2026
    • Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense, 2026
    • Energy Litigation: Oil & Gas, 2025
    • Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense, 2019-2023
  • Recognized by Pittsburgh Business Times, "C-Suite Award Honoree", 2026
  • Recognized by Pittsburgh Business Times, “Pittsburgh Power 100,” 2025 
  • Leadership Pittsburgh Inc. Board of Directors 
  • March of Dimes Western Pennsylvania Board of Directors
  • Independent Director of Devereux/PLEA
  • Leadership Pittsburgh, 2021 Class XXXVIII
  • Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Law Student mentor
  • United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Tocqueville Society member
  • WDPA Criminal Justice Act Panel member
  • American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section member
  • Allegheny County Bar Association, Federal Court Section member
  • Energy & Mineral Law Foundation Strategic Planning Committee member
  • Republican National Lawyers Association member
  • The Federalist Society member
  • McCandless Township Republican Executive Committee member
  • Leadership Pittsburgh Inc. Board of Directors
  • Thomas C. Ryan, “Navigating Government Fraud and Corruption Investigations: Corporate Counsel Best Practices” CLE panel discussion, Schneider Downs, Pittsburgh, P.A., 11 September 2025
  • Thomas C. Ryan, “Race to the Truth:  Leveraging Data Analytics in Government Investigations,” Pittsburgh Chief Compliance Officer Roundtable fall 2023 meeting, Pittsburgh, P.A., 1 November 2023
  • Thomas C. Ryan and Kristen M. Frost, “Juries, Jury Consultants, and White Collar Defendants,” Lightfoot White Collar Institute, Washington, DC, 26 April 2023
  • Thomas C. Ryan and Adam J. Tejeda, “Financial Accounting,” K&L Gates Mini-MBA Professional Development Program, Washington, DC, 28 February 2023
  • Thomas C. Ryan moderated “Insights from In-House: A Panel Discussion with Key Energy Players,” 13th Appalachian Law Conference, September 2022
  • Thomas C. Ryan, et al., wrote and moderated panel session CLE on “Houston We Have A Problem: Agents With Badges Are At The Front Door - The Basics for Companies in Responding to a Government Investigation.,” September 2020
  • Thomas C. Ryan et al. wrote and moderated a CLE panel session titled “Houston, We Have a Problem: Agents With Badges Are at the Front Door—The Basics for Companies Responding to a Government Investigation,” September 2020
  • Thomas C. Ryan, et al., Considerations for What Your Lease Doesn’t Say: An Update on Implied Covenants in the Appalachian Basin, Energy & Mineral Law Foundation 40th Annual Institute, Washington, DC, 9-11 June 2019
  • Thomas C. Ryan et al., What You Don’t Know Can’t Hurt You, Right? Resolving the Inherent Tension Between the Yates Memo and the Collective Knowledge Doctrine in Environmental Criminal Enforcement Actions, Energy & Mineral Law Foundation 39th Annual Institute, Nashville, TN, 17-19 June 2018
  • Thomas C. Ryan and Katherine Gafner, Minimizing the Intrusion of an Enforcement Action, In-House Counsel Presentation, 6 October 2017
  • Thomas C. Ryan et al., Phases and Considerations of a Government Investigation, section presentation, “The Criminalization of Environmental Regulation: How to Respond and Is there More to Come?,” K&L Gates CLE Program, Houston, TX, 28 February 2017
  • Thomas C. Ryan et al., Corporate Responses to Investigative Requests by the Federal Government, Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, 1 November 2016
  • Thomas C. Ryan, The Life Cycle of a Complex Federal Financial Crime: FinCEN Coming Full Circle?, West Virginia Bankers’ Association Annual BSA/AML School, 20 October 2016
  • Thomas C. Ryan et al., Law Firm Beware: Environmental Due Diligence in Corporate Transactions, 26 September 2016, K&L Gates Firmwide training seminar
  • Thomas C. Ryan, Federal Rule Changes Affecting e-Discovery Are Here - What are the Implications?; section presentation, “The Interplay of the Ethics Rules,” K&L Gates CLE Program, Pittsburgh, PA, 3 December 2015
  • Thomas C. Ryan and Nicholas J. Ranjan, Ethical Considerations Arising In Depositions, K&L Gates Associate Training Program, Pittsburgh, PA, 3 September 2015
  • Thomas C. Ryan, Money Laundering Concerns in M&A Transactions, Pennsylvania Bar Institute Ethics CLE Program: “Mergers and Acquisitions: Developments and Practice Tips,” Pittsburgh, PA, 18 June 2015
  • Thomas C. Ryan and Mark A. Rush, A Guide to the Development of a Cyber Data Breach Action Plan, K&L Gates CLE Program: Cybersecurity: Minimizing Risk and Managing Consequences, Pittsburgh, PA, 9 December 2014
  • Thomas C. Ryan and Allison L. Burdette, Tracking the Trends in BSA Prosecutions and AML Regulatory Compliance, CNB Bank, Inc. Bank Secrecy Act employee training program, Berkeley Springs, WV, 28 October 2014
  • Thomas C. Ryan, Bankruptcy Fraud and Criminal Prosecution, West Virginia State Bar, CLE Program, 26 May 2011
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