Once high school and college debate rivals, Andy Ryan and Steve Lehotsky are teaming up 30 years later.
Ryan, a trial lawyer who has led his own firm for the past 11 years, and his team of six lawyers are opening the Dallas office for national litigation boutique Lehotsky Cohn.
“I’ve known Steve for 30 years. Jonathan Cohn and I have represented clients together — me as the trial lawyer, him as the appellate guru — for nearly a decade,” Ryan said on LinkedIn. “Our joint representations have multiplied recently, making it a no-brainer to combine my trial practice with Lehotsky Cohn’s strength in litigation strategy, critical motions, and appeals. Plus, we will expand the firm’s Texas footprint, alongside their outstanding lawyers in Austin.”
Ryan and Cohn, who was then a partner at Sidley, first became acquainted with one another on engagements for Southwest Airlines and USAIG, Southwest’s liability carrier. The Lawbook previously highlighted one of their successful joint representations for the Dallas airline, the 2019 wrongful death trial of financial analyst Richard Ilczyszyn. The trial resulted in a defense verdict and Cohn upheld the verdict on appeal through the California courts.
Ryan’s trial work for Southwest Airlines earned Business Litigation of the Year recognition in 2021 from the DFW Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Lawbook. Ryan worked closely with Southwest managing counsel of litigation Angela Mayeux on that litigation.
Other Ryan Law Partners clients include health care private equity firm Viscogliosi Brothers, LLC; Bombardier; the Dallas County Commissioners Court; and Victory Real Estate Group.
“I could not be more delighted about Andy and his team joining the firm. For eight years, we have worked together on various cases. Andy is a premiere trial attorney with a virtually perfect track record. More importantly, he is a great friend and the quintessential team player,” said Cohn, who joined Lehotsky Keller as a name partner in 2023.
Lehotsky said the results of Ryan and his team are “exceptional.”
“They have nine jury trials, four bench trials, and a track record of getting zero-verdicts for their defendants and tens of millions of dollars for their plaintiffs,” he said.
The combination comes one month after energy giant Chevron announced it landed Lehotsky Keller Cohn founder and former Texas solicitor general Scott Keller as general counsel. Keller’s first official day at Chevron was July 1.
For Ryan, the decision to join Lehotsky Cohn also addresses the most common complaint he has received from clients: that the firm wasn’t big enough.
“To clients it made a ton of sense to integrate the teams,” Ryan told The Lawbook. “If there’s a smarter group of 25 lawyers I’d be shocked. You can’t beat knowing people that long.”