Jim Ryan: Responsive to Clients’ Needs

May 12, 2014 | Spotlight



Jim Ryan is in it for the long haul.

Experienced in business transactions, Jim talks to clients to understand their businesses so he can respond to their individual needs. He has a reputation for standing by his clients from the earliest stages of business development through mergers, public offerings and other major liquidity events. Jim cares about the entrepreneurs and investors he works with and wants to see them succeed.

Jim Ryan“It’s important to know what services the client wants and needs,” Jim says. “Talking to clients helps me understand how they are being affected by changes in the business environment.”

Jim’s areas of focus include corporate and securities law, healthcare, and medical technology. He helps clients raise capital and complete mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. He has extensive experience with restructurings and recapitalizations, and he also advises clients in general corporate matters, including compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Whether his clients are small startups or large corporations, Jim is committed to being responsive and “providing timely services at a fair price.” For him, that means always answering calls and e-mails promptly and being available for consultation before, during, and after business hours. It also means developing relationships with clients that often last for years.

“One particularly rewarding client relationship was the one I had with TCA Cable TV for the first 18 years of my career,” Jim recalls. When that relationship began, TCA was a newly public cable outfit providing service to small communities throughout the southwest. Over the years, Jim guided TCA through serial acquisitions, public offerings, loan transactions, and, finally, a multibillion dollar sale to Cox Communications Inc. “I learned a lot about what goes into building a successful business,” Jim says.

“Talking to clients helps me understand how they are being affected by changes in the business environment.”

– Jim Ryan

In both business and law, being successful requires creativity, and Jim’s experience enables him to offer constructive solutions to difficult problems. One of the more challenging transactions Jim worked on involved arranging an initial public offering for a healthcare company that simultaneously was acquiring multiple businesses in the same field. The logistics were daunting, but by taking the time to thoroughly understand his client’s needs, Jim was able to see the acquisitions and initial public offering to completion.

That kind of responsiveness involves a tremendous time commitment, but Jim says he enjoys getting to know the business owners and investors he works with. Jim also finds time to serve the community and has been on the boards of several organizations, including Literacy Volunteers of America and the Dallas Arboretum. Jim’s commitment both to his clients and the community has earned him recognition as a “Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters and as one of The Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions Law.

For Jim, the most important recognition comes from his clients, who know they can depend on him to listen carefully to their concerns and respond to their needs, no matter where their business takes them.


In This Story

James S. Ryan, III
Partner, Dallas

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