Ryan Allen Hancock

Ryan Allen Hancock in a Partner and Chair of the Employment Law Group at Willig, Williams & Davidson, one of the largest union side law firms in the U.S.  He is a fierce advocate for the rights of employees, having secured over $50 million in settlement and court awards through litigating a broad range of employment matters on behalf of individuals, classes, and collectives before administrative and arbitral bodies, and district and appellate state and federal courts across the country.

Ryan represents clients in numerous discrimination matters including claims involving discrimination based on sexual orientation, religion, disability, race, and sex, and denial of employment based on a criminal record. He also represents clients in wage and hour, whistleblower, contract, and internal investigation matters. In addition, Ryan represents unions in a wide variety of industries, with a specialty in matters affecting cultural, theatrical, and healthcare workers. Ryan also represents political organizations and candidates seeking state and federal office.

Before joining Willig, Williams & Davidson, he was Assistant Chief Counsel with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, the Commonwealth's civil rights enforcement agency. He is the principal author of the Commission's proposed policy, entitled Disparate Impact Discrimination Implications Related to a Denial of Employment Based on a Criminal Record and author of The Double Bind: Obstacles to Employment and Resources for Survivors of the Criminal Justice System, 15 U. Pa. J.L. & Soc. Change 515 2011-2012. He also co-authored the seminal paper on African-American Vernacular English (“AAVE”) and court reporting in the criminal justice system. Jones, Taylor, et al. Testifying while black: An experimental study of court reporter accuracy in transcription of African American English. Language, vol. 95 no. 2, 2019, p. e216-e252. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lan.2019.0042.

After graduating from Rutgers Law, Ryan clerked in Camden County Superior Court, Criminal Division for the Honorable David G. Eynon. He co-founded and is currently Board Chair for the Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE) and its Criminal Record Expungement Project (C-REP).