Ryan McConnell

Attorney, R. McConnell Group PLLC

Ryan McConnell is a former federal prosecutor who focuses his practice on corporate compliance issues, internal investigations, and white-collar criminal defense. Following his government service, Ryan worked as a partner at three international law firms conducting internal investigations representing clients in lengthy regulatory investigations, before opening his own firm focused on building world-class compliance programs. Today, Ryan advises clients in industries ranging from eCommerce to energy on how to use empirical data to leverage internal resources and create risk-based compliance programs—routinely traveling to Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. His clients are spread around the globe and range in size from 15,000 to 2.2 million employees, covering subject matters from anti-corruption to privacy.

Outside of his law practice, Ryan teaches international corporate compliance at the University of Houston Law Center. Before starting his own firm, he also taught criminal procedure for half a decade (including while as an Assistant U.S. Attorney), and in 2011 he was named faculty member of the year by the UH Advocates. His corporate compliance course was featured on the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog and other trade publications for its innovative approach of teaching compliance as a process framework as opposed to viewing compliance through the lens of one specific subject matter. Ryan also writes the popular Risky Business column for Corporate Counsel magazine—where he discusses compliance and risk issues as well as other regulatory and in-house topics. Over the past decade, Ryan has written several law review articles on corporate charging and nearly a hundred articles for Corporate Counsel magazine.

Before entering private practice, Ryan served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Houston. As part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime Strike Force in Houston, Ryan tried numerous criminal cases and conducted significant grand jury investigations of international scope on matters ranging from violations of U.S. trade laws to complex fraud. He also regularly briefed and argued criminal appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Ryan began his career as a law clerk for Judge John C. Godbold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Related Sessions

Intensive: Expanding the Audit Committee: Culture, Enterprise Risk, and the Board Location: Stanford Law School Classroom Building Date: June 25, 2018 Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm View session

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