Leaving his in-house role, Steve Ryan has joined boutique litigation firm Fletcher Held in Houston as the firm continues to grow.
He served as the global head of litigation at TechnipFMC for more than seven years, where Ryan oversaw corporate investigations, international arbitration, FCPA and corruption matters, shareholder class actions, securities matters, patent disputes, and trade secret litigation. In that role, he also advised senior leadership and the board on compliance, crisis and risk management, and corporate governance.
“I think I had managed to do all the different things that I wanted to do. Was never a dull moment or a boring day there, but I was kind of at the point where I wanted to make another change,” he told The Texas Lawbook.
Ryan said he wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do next, but he missed being in the courtroom.
“I missed being the lead counsel to the other clients. I liked having the one client for a while, but really missed that part of the practice and just really thrilled to get back into it,” he said.
Ryan previously worked with Claudia Wilson Frost at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, who joined the firm in January.
Before joining TechnipFMC, Ryan spent over 16 years with international law firms in Houston and concurrently served as a colonel in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps Reserve and Air National Guard, retiring in 2021.
Ryan earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1997.
Fletcher Held co-founder Scott Fletcher said it made sense to hire Ryan.
He added that the goal isn’t to become a big firm, but if opportunities present themselves, they’ll take them.
“The idea was to have a litigation boutique that could handle things with fewer conflicts, but with the talented people here, we feel like we’ve got that right now, and if more opportunities come up, we will do that. But there’s not a set number or a plan on how much to grow,” Fletcher said.