Jessica L. Ryan

Ms. Ryan is an enrolled member of the Brothertown Indian Nation.  She graduated from Hamline University College of Liberal Arts in 1994 and from Hamline University School of Law in 1997. After graduating law school, Ms. Ryan served as a law clerk in Hennepin County Juvenile Court and then as the clerk of court for the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Dakota Community Tribal Court and the Lower Sioux Community in Minnesota Tribal Court prior to becoming an associate attorney at the firm.  Ms. Ryan practices in the area of federal Indian law.  Much of her practice has centered on litigation on behalf of various Tribes and Bands in state and tribal courts on issues related to child welfare; as well as drafting and analyzing legislation and policies affecting Indian families in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa.  In addition, Ms. Ryan has addressed various issues related to jurisdiction, sovereignty, contracts, employment, child custody and child support.  Ms. Ryan has successfully briefed and argued before the Minnesota Court of Appeals regarding the Indian Child Welfare Act as well as briefed and argued jurisdictional issues before the South Dakota Circuit Court, and has been invited to present at various state and nation-wide conferences.

Ms. Ryan serves on the Board of Directors for the Indian Child Welfare Law Center as vice-president and the American Indian Policy Center, as the secretary.  She is a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association and the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association. Ms. Ryan has been appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court to serve on the Implementation Committee on Multi-cultural Diversity & Racial Fairness in the Courts Task Force Committee; the Minnesota Tribal Court/State Court Judges Association; and the Minnesota Supreme Court's Children's Justice Initiative.  Ms. Ryan continues to volunteer as a Guardian ad litem on the panel serving American Indian families in Hennepin County and recently assisted in preparation of a Petition for Federal Acknowledgment on behalf of a tribe. 

Ms. Ryan has been admitted to practice law in Minnesota, the Court of the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community Tribal Court, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal Court of the Lake Traverse Reservation, and the Northern Plains Intertribal Court of Appeals.  Ms. Ryan has appeared pro hac vice in the states of Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin.