Ryan Watstein

Practice Areas

Ryan Watstein is a founding partner of WT and a nationally recognized litigator. Ryan has successfully represented companies and individuals as lead counsel in a variety of litigation matters across the country, including approximately 400 national class actions. In none of the hundreds of class actions he’s defended has a class been certified, for settlement purposes or otherwise. For these achievements, Ryan was recently ranked as a Band 1 litigator by Chambers USA alongside the practice he leads, which also received a Band 1 ranking (the highest designation, only awarded to a few practices and lawyers).

Ryan has substantial experience litigating dozens of types of consumer class action claims, including those involving privacy, false advertising, contract, the TCPA, FCRA, FDCPA, FCCPA, CIPA, Rosenthal Act, and other state consumer statutes, such as California’s UCLA and Florida’s FDUTPA. Ryan has litigated such cases through evidentiary hearings, trial, and appeal. Ryan has also litigated numerous bet-the-company disputes for both plaintiffs and defendants. The cases and appeals Ryan has litigated have involved many billions of dollars and have spanned more than two dozen jurisdictions and arbitration tribunals across the country.

In addition to being ranked by Chambers, Ryan has been recognized by Law360 as a Top Class Action Attorney Under 40. He has also been consistently recognized as a “Rising Star” by Georgia Super Lawyers and as one of Georgia’s “Legal Elite—Best Lawyers in Georgia” by Georgia Trend Magazine.

Prior to entering private practice, Ryan attended law school at the University of Florida, where he served on the Florida Law Review, graduated magna cum laude, was inducted as a member of Order of the Coif, and received several recognitions for the highest grade in the class. Before that, Ryan attended Florida State University on scholarship, graduating summa cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and finance.

Ryan graduated from Leadership DeKalb and served on United Way’s DeKalb Advisory Board. Ryan also volunteers as a moot court competition judge, and regularly speaks on issues germane to his areas of expertise. He is a past Board Member of the Druid Hills Civic Association. Ryan is an avid skier, traveler, and proud father of two wonderful little girls.