Professionals

Ryan S. Spiegel

Partner

VCARD

Overview
Experience
Publications
Presentations
Distinctions
Professional and Civic
News

Overview

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.

Experience

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.

Publications

“Forthcoming Federal Procurement Revisions Focus on Achieving Environmental Goals,” Thompson Hine Government Contracts & ESG Update, June 2022
"OMB Issues New Buy America Guidance for Federal Infrastructure Projects," Thompson Hine Government Contracts Update, May 2022
“Final Rule Amends Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 25 Content Threshold Under Buy American Act: Important Considerations for Companies Providing Products to the Federal Government,” Thompson Hine Business Law Update, Spring 2022
"SBA Revises Small Business Size Standards for 229 Industries," Thompson Hine Government Contracts Update, April 2022
"Out With DUNS, In With UEI: New Unique Entity Identifier Is Here," Thompson Hine Government Contracts Update, April 2022
"Final Rule Amends FAR Part 25 Domestic Content Threshold Under Buy American Act," Thompson Hine Government Contracts Update, March 2022
“Update on Federal Contractor and Subcontractor Vaccine Mandate,” Thompson Hine Government Contracts Update, February 2022
"Federal Court Enjoins Enforcement of Federal Contractor Vaccination Mandate in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee," Thompson Hine Government Contracts Update, December 2021
“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

Presentations

“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

Distinctions

Listed in The Legal 500, 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. 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