Candidate for President-elect

Ryan Billings

Kohner, Mann & Kailas S.C., Milwaukee
Email: rbillings@kmksc.com

Platform Statement

The State Bar of Wisconsin is for all of us. The president of the State Bar of Wisconsin must represent everyone, from a small-town, all-who-need-me general practice lawyer in rural Wisconsin, to a niche specialist at a nationwide firm with hundreds of lawyers in Milwaukee, or an attorney who lives out of state but maintains their Wisconsin license. I have experience across that spectrum. I grew up in a small town but practiced for many years in New York City. I have worked for big law, small law, and medium law, starting as an unpaid intern at a small firm in Sheboygan, moving to a 500-lawyer firm in New York, and eventually landing at a mid-sized firm in Glendale. Over the past 25 years, I have had the pleasure of counting a wide variety of dedicated, hard-working Wisconsin attorneys as my colleagues. Every lawyer has their own set of strengths and weaknesses and faces their own hardships and triumphs over the course of their career. The State Bar must offer something meaningful to every lawyer who is licensed to practice in Wisconsin.

The State Bar president should serve all Wisconsin lawyers. I can help the State Bar meet that challenge. Beyond having a broad base of experience in the legal world, I strive to be a good listener (especially to those who disagree with me) and to see how both sides of a debate bring meaningful perspectives to the discussion. Listening closely and taking to heart feedback from resident and nonresident Wisconsin lawyers is the first step toward improving the State Bar’s ability to meet every lawyer’s needs. The next step is taking action. My experience working in a wide variety of settings has given me valuable insight into the tools and solutions employed by lawyers in different legal communities to solve problems, and I would use those skills to connect existing resources to those who need them, and to help develop new resources to meet new challenges.

Lawyers are and should be a force for good. We live in an increasingly polarized world. Lawyers can and should be an important force for measured, robust civil discourse that builds communities rather than tearing them apart and harnesses the crucible of the adversarial system to promote truth and justice rather than rancor and discord. I would use a position as State Bar president to further that mandate, and my experience and even-keeled temperament make me well situated to build bridges between people with differing backgrounds and perspectives.

The president should support lawyers in taking care of our clients, ourselves, and each other. Although every lawyer’s situation is different, there are common challenges that Wisconsin lawyers face. One of those challenges is the increasing stress placed on lawyers by today’s nonstop working environment, where lawyers are expected to be always available (exacerbated by the blurring of work and home life resulting from the pandemic). I am appalled by studies and surveys reflecting the rising numbers of lawyers experiencing excessive stress, burnout, anxiety, depression, and often-related chemical and alcohol dependence. We must do more to foster an environment in which those who take up the mantle of serving as lawyers are not destroyed by their careers. The future of the practice of law in Wisconsin will be determined by its licensed attorneys, and we share a collective responsibility to shape a better future for the next generation. I will work to raise awareness and help provide resources to assist Wisconsin-licensed lawyers in dealing with the many stresses of a legal career.

Wisconsin faces critical challenges in meeting the needs of underrepresented communities. Another common challenge is the increasingly dire shortage of lawyers in places where they are needed most, including rural Wisconsin, lawyers prosecuting and defending criminal cases, and lawyers serving those who cannot afford legal services. These problems are growing, and the State Bar should be a force to help us meet these challenges. Important to that fight will be developing a deep understanding and responsible use of emerging tools like AI, remote-work and automation platforms that improve efficiency, ease the grind of practicing law, and allow us to focus our energies on critical thinking and problem-solving. My role if elected president of the State Bar of Wisconsin will be to listen, help develop and direct resources, and build partnerships that can address these challenges long after my term is over.

Please vote! Thank you for considering my candidacy. Regardless of your choice, please vote when ballots are distributed April 11-26, 2024.

Biography

Ryan Billings is a shareholder and chair of Litigation at Kohner, Mann & Kailas, S.C. He practices complex commercial litigation across a broad spectrum of subject-matters, but with a particular focus on noncompete, fiduciary duty and trade secret law. A native of Sheboygan, Ryan began his practice in New York before returning home in 2011 – his only regret is not coming home sooner!

Ryan has lectured and written extensively on emerging discovery law and practices, including for the Wisconsin Lawyer, the Wisconsin Law Journal, serving for nearly a decade as the co-editor of the Electronic Discovery Law chapter of Wisconsin Discovery Law and Practice from State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE®, and teaching CLEs on discovery law. For many years, Ryan has been a member of the State Bar Board of Governors (BOG) representing District 2. He is the chair of the BOG’s Policy Committee, a member of its Executive Committee, the BOG liaison to the Business Law Section and the BOG representative to the Judicial Council.

Over the past two decades, Ryan has represented a wide variety of clients all over the world. He has submitted multiple briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court and has briefed or argued appeals in five different U.S. Courts of Appeal, as well as the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals. He regularly represents clients in mission-critical disputes, in everything from ten-figure lawsuits to pro bono cases in which the charitable organization in question would not survive if it lost in court. Ryan’s experience representing clients nationally and internationally in a wide variety of settings has not only honed his diverse practice skills, but also deepened his understanding of the many types of resources and methods employed by lawyers in different legal communities to meet client needs.

Upon moving back to Wisconsin, Ryan met his now wife, Megan (again, should have done it sooner!), who is a historical fantasy and mystery novelist. They spend much of their free time with the people, shops, and beautiful parks of Cedarburg, where they have lived since 2018. A member of the National Eagle Scout Association, Ryan and his wife also enjoy camping all over Wisconsin every chance they get (Ryan proposed during one such camping trip). Megan’s love of fishing (especially ice fishing) further drives them to explore Wisconsin, scouting for the best spot. Their favorite is a lake whose location is being withheld, but may or may not be near the home of Ryan’s mom a bit outside Eagle River.

Ryan earned a bachelor’s in philosophy from Princeton University in 2001 and his juris doctorate from Harvard Law School in 2004.