Margaret Ryan:

Margaret A. “Meg” Ryan joined the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in December, 2006. Prior to her appointment, Judge Ryan was a Partner in the litigation and appellate practices of Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP and a litigation Partner at the law firm of Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP. Judge Ryan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, while he served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Before entering the private sector, Judge Ryan served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps. As a Communications Officer, Ms. Ryan served in units within the II & III Marine Expeditionary Forces as a Staff Officer, Company Commander, Platoon Commander and Operations Officer. Judge Ryan’s tours included deployments to the Philippines, during a coup attempt, and to Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. 

Judge Ryan attended law school under the Marine Corps Law Education Program at the University of Notre Dame, where she was a member of the Notre Dame Law Review, received the William T. Kirby Legal Writing Award, and was the recipient of the Colonel William J. Hoynes Award for Outstanding Scholarship. As a judge advocate, Ms. Ryan served within the Military Justice System as a Trial Counsel and Chief Trial Counsel in Okinawa, Japan and Quantico, Virginia. Judge Ryan was then selected by the 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Charles C. Krulak, to serve as his Aide de Camp. 

Judge Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois. She is a graduate of Knox College, cum laude (1985) and the University of Notre Dame Law School, summa cum laude (1995). She resides with her husband, Michael J. Collins, and their Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers, Fiona, Reagan, and Dagny, in Arlington, Virginia.