Ryan S. Spiegel
Partner
Ryan is a partner in the firm’s Government Contracts practice group. His practice focuses on regulatory compliance guidance, business counseling, and dispute resolution for clients operating in the complex realm of government procurement. He also handles commercial and civil litigation matters and serves a wide range of industries. Leveraging his extensive knowledge of government contracts litigation, Ryan provides counsel on bid protests, trade secrets, the False Claims Act, and various contract disputes in addition to business torts. He often advises contractors on negotiating agreements, responding to government investigations, organizing their corporate structure, and obtaining set-aside statuses for small and disadvantaged businesses. Ryan’s deep experience with contract law, government procurement, trademark law, and corporate law affords him the keen insight to address potential issues of concern and propose creative approaches to advancing his clients’ interests.
Prior to joining Thompson Hine, Ryan spent a decade as a litigator at an AmLaw 100 firm in the District of Columbia and then served as Chair of the Government Contracts practice group and Co-Chair of the Litigation group at a regional firm. While attending law school, he worked as an extern in the Office of the Legal Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, helping to prosecute international war criminals and forge multinational agreements.
Ryan serves as an elected City Council member in Gaithersburg, Maryland and has served on the boards of directors of the Maryland Municipal League, where he was president in 2019-2020, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
His commitment to pro bono work has afforded him the opportunity to work on death penalty appeals, Holocaust reparations claims, asylum cases, and landlord and tenant disputes. He has also served as the National Judge Advocate of The Navy League of the United States, providing advice and counsel as a member of the League’s steering committee and board of directors and helping to further the League’s mission of supporting our nation’s sea services.
Examples of Ryan’s experience include:
- Won summary judgment in Maryland federal court for a global aerospace, defense, information, and services company after a former employee sued the company under the False Claims Act for whistleblower retaliation related to a military product that jammed the signal of roadside bombs in combat zones. Secured a unanimous affirmation of that dismissal on appeal to the Fourth Circuit, won a judgment against the employee for breach of contract, and resolved parallel government investigations with no negative action.
- Successfully protested the U.S. Navy’s exclusion of a service-disabled, veteran-owned IT company from consideration during competitive solicitation, forcing the navy to take corrective action and ultimately include the company in a $100 million multiple-award contract.
- Successfully quashed several writs of attachment against the assets of a U.S. based, international news channel that threatened to freeze the broadcast company’s operations.
- Represented seller of a small, disadvantaged government contracting company specializing in professional services during successful acquisition of the company and its ongoing federal contracts.
- Successfully negotiated settlement and dismissal of various business lawsuits, including employee profit sharing dispute with a government contractor, claim for fraudulent transfer of assets in a Ponzi scheme, and subcontractor claim for payment against prime federal contractor.
- Successfully settled sweeping shareholder derivative case for publicly traded financial institution and represented institution in resolving related government inquiries by various agencies.
Pro Bono Representation
- Represented an Alabama death row inmate in multiple state and federal habeas corpus proceedings, arguing ineffective assistance of original counsel, intellectual disability of defendant, and several other legal deficiencies warranting reversal of capital sentence; persuaded Alabama Supreme Court to limit application of procedural bar.
- Represented a nonprofit civic engagement organization in federal litigation to uphold laws prohibiting pension fund managers from donating to the campaigns of elected officials who award pension contracts.
- Represented a group of local governments, elected officials, nonprofit organizations, and industry groups in proceedings with a Maryland public utilities regulator addressing the proposed merger of a gas and utilities conglomerate with a utilities holdings company. Advocated for reliability enhancements, consumer protections, investments in clean and renewable energy, distributed energy generation, and performance-based ratemaking to align utility performance with the public interest. Arguments and testimony presented on behalf of the coalition were cited extensively by the strong dissenting opinion of two of the five commissioners.
- “FAR Council and Agencies Publish Class Deviation Clauses and Instructions to Implement EO 14042 Vaccine Requirements,” Thompson Hine Government Contracts Update, October 2021
- “HB 858: Clarifying the Role of Alternate Members of Local Historic District Commissions," Maryland Bar Bulletin, November 15, 2012
- "Bank on Gaithersburg," Maryland Politics Watch, May 12, 2010
- "Thinking Locally: An Alternative Path to Campaign Finance Reform in Maryland," Maryland Politics Watch, February 4, 2010
- "CCT: A worthy project gets short shrift," The Gazette, March 18, 2009
- "A Salute to Justice O'Connor," The Washington Post, July 2, 2005
- “Accessibility for Municipalities,” MML Fall Conference, 2021 (moderator)
- "COVID 19 Experts Panel," Shaare Torah, November 2020
- “Covid-19: Getting Back to Work,” Federal Bar Association, DC Chapter, June 2020
- "Pathways to Practice: Trends in Public Policy," University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, February 2019
- “Fireside Forum: Immigration, a Local Government Perspective,” Leisure World, April 2014
- Panel, “The Economics of Immigration Reform,” Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University, 2013
- “Do’s and Don’ts of Using Social Media,” Maryland Municipal League Fall Conference, Hagerstown, 2012
- Roundtable, “What I Wish I Knew,” Winston & Strawn Summer Associate Conference, Chicago, 2012
- “Big Ideas Forum: Bank on Gaithersburg,” Maryland Municipal League Fall Conference, Annapolis, 2010
- Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© for Commercial Litigation, 2021 - 2022
- VIP List (Successful by 40), The Daily Record, 2018
- Selected for inclusion in the Maryland Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2015-2018
- Selected to the Washington D.C. Super Lawyers Rising Star list, 2015-2018
- Law360 Rising Star in Government Contracts, 2017 (one of five nationally)
- Selected to the Top Ten 'Young Guns' list of Montgomery County, Maryland Politics Watch, 2009
- Outstanding Achievement Award, Washington Lawyers Committee, for work on Immigrant and Refugee Rights 2005
- AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbard
Professional Associations
- American Bar Association
- District of Columbia Bar
- Maryland State Bar Association
Community Activities
- Gaithersburg City Council
- President, Board of Directors, Maryland Municipal League, 2018 - 2021
- National Judge Advocate, The Navy League of the United States, 2017 - 2018
- Board of Directors, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, 2016 - 2017
As Government Contracts Demand Hits Fever Pitch, Thompson Hine Recruits High-Profile DC LawyerThe National Law Journal
November 17, 2021
Ryan Spiegel Joins Thompson Hine’s Government Contracts Practice in Washington, D.C. Thompson Hine LLP
November 10, 2021