Ryan Kirkpatrick
Partner
New York Office Phone: (212) 729-2017 Email Download vCard Print Bio to PDF
Education
  • Yale University (B.A., Political Science, 2001)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (J.D., Order of the Coif, 2005)
Judicial Clerkship
  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Ruggero J. Aldisert, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2005-2006)
Ryan Kirkpatrick
Partner

Ryan Kirkpatrick rejoins Susman Godfrey after spending four years as General Counsel and Senior Managing Director of McCourt Global, an alternative asset management firm.  In that role, Ryan served as head of the New York office where he oversaw all legal affairs of the firm and its business verticals, including a $1 billion commercial real estate development joint venture, MG Sports & Media (which owns the LA Marathon and co-owns Global Champions Tour and Global Champions League), and MG Capital (owner of a private direct lender and registered investment adviser).

Ryan’s experience at McCourt equipped him with a deep understanding of how to successfully manage and direct a wide variety of multi-national legal matters. Ryan obtained or negotiated billions of dollars in judgments, settlements, and transactions while at McCourt.  Working on both the plaintiff and defense sides, Ryan also developed a deep understanding of and how to successfully leverage litigation (and the threat of it) to accomplish financial and business objectives while at the same time managing and mitigating the financial and operational costs of litigation to a business. For example, while serving as director of Global Champions League, Ryan initiated an EU competition law action against Fédération Equestre International, the international governing body for equestrian sports.  After obtaining a landmark preliminary injunction that was upheld by the Brussels Court of Appeals—and has implications for all international sports federations—Ryan helped negotiate a highly favorable settlement with the FEI. As of 2017, Global Champions League has now sold/licensed 18 team franchises and holds 15 events around the world.  This use of EU competition law to effect worldwide relief for a client was reminiscent of one of Ryan’s first cases at Susman Godfrey, where he and Steve Susman guided start-up mainframe manufacturer Platform Solutions, Inc. to a $200 million buy-out by IBM following years of contentious of antitrust, patent infringement, and copyright infringement proceedings in both the Southern District of New York and the European Commission.

Ryan was first elected to the Susman Godfrey partnership in 2011. At the time, he was representing Frank McCourt and the Los Angeles Dodgers in connection with Mr. McCourt’s highly-publicized divorce and the team’s bankruptcy. This three-year representation culminated in a favorable settlement of the divorce, the sale of the Dodgers to Guggenheim Partners for $2.15 billion—the highest amount ever paid for a professional sports franchise—and the formation of a $550 million joint venture with affiliates of Guggenheim Partners.  Ryan has been interviewed and quoted by numerous media outlets regarding the case, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, the Los Angeles Time, ESPN, the National Law Journal, the Associated Press, KABC, and KTLA.  Shortly following the sale, Mr. McCourt asked Ryan to help lead McCourt Global.

Ryan was named among Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Litigators in America in 2022. Prior to his time at Susman Godfrey, Kirkpatrick clerked for the Hon. Ruggero J. Aldisert of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Notable Representations

During his previous tenure at Susman Godfrey, Kirkpatrick led numerous successful litigation matters in a variety of legal areas including intellectual property, insurance, securities, antitrust and class actions.  For example,

  • Successfully represented various hedge funds investing in “stranger-owned life insurance,” including obtaining complete defense victory for a hedge fund in a case in which an insurer sued to rescind a $20 million life insurance policy for alleged fraud and lack of an insurable interest, and initiating a class action against an insurer relating to cost of insurance increases that resulted in a settlement valued at $134 million.
  • Obtained a $45 million damages judgment on behalf of Masimo Corporation in an antitrust case against Tyco Healthcare involving pulse oximetry products, which judgment was upheld by the Ninth Circuit on appeal, with the client receiving a net recovery of approximately $27 million.
  • Defeated class certification of a putative wage and hour class action brought against a subsidiary of Dean Foods.
  • Obtained a $16.5 million settlement for a group of investors in Seattle-based Dendreon Corporation in a case alleging securities fraud and insider trading, with the class receiving approximately $12 million.
  • Guided start-up mainframe manufacturer Platform Solutions, Inc. to a $200 million buy-out by IBM following years of contentious of antitrust, patent infringement, and copyright infringement proceedings in both the Southern District of New York and the European Commission.
  • Represented Frank McCourt and the Los Angeles Dodgers in connection with Mr. McCourt’s highly-publicized divorce and the team’s bankruptcy. This three-year representation culminated in a favorable settlement of the divorce, the sale of the Dodgers to Guggenheim Partners for $2.15 billion—the highest amount ever paid for a professional sports franchise—and the formation of a $550 million joint venture with affiliates of Guggenheim Partners.
Articles

“Rat Race: Insider Advice on Landing Judicial Clerkships,” 110 Penn. St. L. Rev.835 (2006) (co-authored with the Honorable Ruggero J. Aldisert and James R. Stevens, III)

Professional Associations and Memberships
  • State Bar of New York
  • State Bar of California
  • District of Columbia Bar
  • United States District Court for the Central District of California
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of California
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas