Sarah J. Ryan was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1958. She majored in philosophy and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She graduated with honors, receiving the award as the Outstanding Student in the Department of Philosophy. She received her J.D. degree in 1982 from the University of Oregon School of Law, where she was a scholarship recipient, and received the Am. Jur. Award for Excellence. She is a member of the District of Columbia, Washington and Oregon State Bars, the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

From 1982 to 1983, Ms. Ryan served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable George J. Woodrich, an Oregon State Trial Court Judge, in Eugene, Oregon. She then joined Bruce MacGregor Hall, P.C., a small Portland, Oregon law firm specializing in securities, anti-trust, complex commercial and class action litigation. Since 1986, Ms. Ryan has been a trial and employment attorney with Ball Janik LLP, where she became a partner in 1990. Ms. Ryan chairs the firm’s Employment Law Group.

Ms. Ryan has litigated both jury and bench trials in circuit courts throughout Oregon and the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. She has handled appeals to the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Oregon Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel and the United States Supreme Court. Her national and regional clients include AT Systems, Community Loans of America, Fujitsu Microelectronics, Holland Residential LLC, Intel Corporation, Langlitz Leathers, Melvin Mark Properties, Northwest Staffing Resources, Olympic Controls Corp., Oregon Scientific, Inc., Pacific Crest Technology, Polygon Northwest Company, Renaissance Development, Temp Control Mechanical Corporation, The Regence Group, the State of Oregon and United Couriers, Inc.

Ms. Ryan's litigation practice includes employment and complex commercial litigation. Her employment practice includes general employment law advice, including employment manuals and policies, employment and non-compete agreements, hiring, termination and discipline, management and employee training, and insurance coverage for employment claims. She has extensive experience advising clients and defending employment claims regarding intellectual property protection, breach of contract, wrongful termination, Title VII, ADA, ADEA, sexual harassment, employment torts, discrimination, wage and hour, and state and federal family medical leave laws. She has defended clients in such matters in Oregon and Washington state courts, federal court and before the EEOC and the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries (BOLI).

Ms. Ryan has received the highest rating (AV) from Martindale-Hubbell. Through peer review, Martindale-Hubbell rates attorneys on both legal ability and professional ethics. Ms. Ryan has also been named an Oregon “Super Lawyer” and was recently selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. Super Lawyers names the top five percent of Oregon lawyers, as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics. The Litigation Counsel of America is a trial lawyer honorary society comprised of litigators throughout the United States and represents less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.

Ms. Ryan has authored articles on federal practice and procedure, and employment law, and is the author of the “Pleadings and Claims” chapter of the Oregon State Bar publication Federal Civil Litigation in Oregon (1994) and supplements (1998 and 2002). She is a frequent speaker on employment issues, including sexual harassment, claims avoidance, reductions-in-force, discrimination, the Americans with Disabilities Act and family medical leave, and has taught trial practice seminars. Ms. Ryan is a member and past president of the Oregon chapter of the Federal Bar Association, a former member of the Executive Committee of the Oregon State Bar Business Litigation Section and served as an attorney representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. She was a founding director of Oregon Lawyers against Hunger and serves on the Board of Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Oregon.