Anne T. Brennan and William F. Ryan, Jr Named Leadership in Law Winners
Baltimore – Whiteford, Taylor & Preston is delighted to announce that Anne T. Brennan and William F. Ryan, Jr., have been selected as winners in The Daily Record's annual Leadership in Law program. Brennan, a partner and litigator, is the former Managing Partner of the firm's Towson office, and joined the firm in 1984. Ryan, also a partner and litigator, is the chair of the firm's Litigation Department and joined the firm in 1980.
Brennan focuses her practice primarily on workers compensation defense. An AV Peer Review Rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell, she is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association. She also serves as an appointed member of the Executive Council of the Baltimore County Bar Association, and an Inquiry Panel Member for the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission. Brennan was listed among Maryland's Top 100 Women and Maryland's Super Lawyers in 2007 and 2008. In May 2008, Brennan and a dedicated committee of volunteers raised over $200,000 for the Johns Hopkins Colon Cancer Center and the Colon Cancer Alliance through a single-night event called “Gastronomique: A Taste of Life” that was attended by over 625 individuals. It was the single largest event to benefit the Johns Hopkins Colon Cancer Center ever held in Baltimore and the largest single event ever held in Maryland to benefit the Colon Cancer Alliance. In addition to serving as a local ambassador and advocate for the New York-based Colon Cancer Alliance, she serves on the Maryland Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation's Board of Directors, and the University of Virginia's Parents Committee and Alumni Association's mentor panels.
Ryan is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an invitation-only and elected association of preeminent trial lawyers limited to no more than 1% of lawyers licensed to practice in a state. He has been recognized as one of The Best Lawyers in America by Woodward White in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and listed among America's Leading Lawyers by Chambers and Partners, Baltimore SmartCEO's 2006 and 2007 Legal Elite, and Maryland's 2007 and 2008 Super Lawyers. Ryan is a member of the Maryland Bar Foundation, the Maryland State Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, and the American Bar Association. He has served as lead trial counsel in numerous state and federal courts across the country, handling a wide variety of cases ranging from business, partnership and real estate disputes; securities, corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters; accounting and auditing issues; intellectual property proceedings; class actions; and toxic tort and environmental claims.
In 2007, in a nationally recognized corporate governance case reported by the Wall Street Journal “to be among the largest out-of-pocket payments by outside directors following corporate fraud allegations,” Ryan obtained more than $82 million in recoveries from former officers, directors, and accountants of Just for Feet, Inc., once the nation's second largest athletic shoe retailer, on behalf of a trustee appointed by the United States District Court in Delaware. (The article titled “Settlement in Just For Feet Case May Fan Board Fears,” appears in the April 23, 2007 edition of the Wall Street Journal.) He also represented of the City of Baltimore and the Housing Authority of Baltimore City in a landmark class action of national significance brought by 14,000 class members concerning the provision of public housing and was involved in the housing reform that resulted from the case.