Firm History
Although Ryan Ryan Deluca LLP traces its roots back to the early 20th century, today’s senior partners began their careers at Ryan, Ryan & Hickey, a partnership that began in 1966. Ryan, Ryan & Hickey was the successor of Ryan, Ryan & Ryan, a partnership started by Daniel E. Ryan, grandfather of senior partners Daniel E. Ryan, III and Michael T. Ryan and counsel Elizabeth Ryan Lane and Kieran M. Ryan.
Ryan graduated from New York University School of Law in 1922 and was a name partner in Fessenden, Kenealy & Ryan and later Kenealy & Ryan. He was arguing cases before the Connecticut Supreme Court (then known as the “Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut”) as early as 1925. He later became a municipal court judge in Stamford.
Upon the death of their father, Attorneys Daniel E. Ryan, Jr. and W. Patrick Ryan joined with local attorney William F. Hickey, Jr., former mayor of the City of Stamford. The three began a partnership and purchased a brick house located at 80 Fourth Street, where they began their practice.
Initially, the practice focused primarily on individual clients and included work in real estate, trusts and estates, transactional work and some litigation in Stamford Superior Court. By 1977, the firm was working for several insurance companies, defending their insureds in state and federal court. That year, name partner Charles A. Deluca joined the firm as an associate. Senior partners Daniel E. Ryan, III joined as an associate in 1980 and Michael T. Ryan followed two years later in 1982, as the seventh attorney in the firm.
In the early 1990s the firm represented its most famous client, the actor Paul Newman and his company, Newman’s Own, Inc.® in a lawsuit brought by a local delicatessen owner who claimed that he was entitled to stock in the company. The case generated widespread publicity and resulted in a verdict in favor of Mr. Newman and the company.
Attorney Hickey became a judge of the Connecticut Superior Court in 1987 and the firm has undergone several name changes since then. By 2007, the firm had outgrown its offices at 80 Fourth Street and moved to its current location at 707 Summer Street in Stamford. In 2017, the firm opened its Bridgeport office. The firm has grown from a small general practice to an AV rated litigation boutique with over 35 attorneys handling cases in all state and federal courts in Connecticut.
