In February 2022, Ryan Gardner joined the First Liberty Institute as Counsel after spending over four years at a large Dallas law firm handling complex commercial disputes both before both trial and appellate courts. Before his time in private practice, Ryan worked in Washington D.C. as a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Ryan graduated as Valedictorian from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where he served as the Lead Articles Editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the President of the Pepperdine chapter of the Federalist Society. While in law school, Ryan also externed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Sandra Ikuta and worked in Pepperdine’s Ninth Circuit Clinic. Ryan received his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology from Harding University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Ryan is a member of the Texas State Bar and is admitted to practice in various federal district and appellate courts.