Ryan Scarborough draws upon his deep experience in both federal and state courts across the country to advise his clients and litigate their cases. Ryan regularly squares off against private litigants and government agencies, both offensively in challenging agency overreach and defensively when banks, financial services companies, and their directors and officers find themselves the target of enforcement actions, FDIC receivership lawsuits, or class actions.
He frequently litigates against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, and other financial regulatory agencies. Ryan is ranked by Chambers and Benchmark Litigation and has been recognized by The Legal 500 for his work in handling Financial Services litigation, which describes him as an “[o]utstanding attorney and strategic thinker” and praises him for his “calming approach.”
Ryan often speaks and writes about regulatory and enforcement initiatives, as well as D&O liability. His articles tend to revolve around a consistent theme—namely, that sometimes it pays to litigate. Drawing on lessons learned from his representation of numerous banks and their D&Os, Ryan has published articles on everything from “Navigating CFPB Regulation of Bank Overdraft Fees” to “A Litigator’s Thoughts on Protecting Financial Institutions from Enforcement Actions.” He has also written about business judgment protections for directors and officers after the Great Recession.
Ryan leads Williams & Connolly’s Directors & Officers Practice Group. He also chairs the firm's Discovery Attorney Committee and co-chairs the firm’s pro bono immigration / asylum program. Ryan has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught a trial practice seminar on experts.
Ryan was born and raised in Austin, Texas. He graduated summa cum laude from Duke University in 1994 with a degree in Public Policy Studies. Ryan then studied abroad in Japan for a year as a Fulbright Scholar at Tohoku University before entering law school. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1998, and served as a Primary Editor on the Harvard Law Review. Ryan joined Williams & Connolly in 2000 after clerking for U.S. District Court Judge Alan C. Kay in Honolulu.
Updated Sep 2024
