Ryan M. Hodgett - Jacksonville, FL

Ryan Hodgett is an associate at Lesak, Hamilton, Calhoun & Pontieri whose practice focuses on business law, commercial litigation, and mergers and acquisitions. Ryan represents privately held businesses and their owners in contract disputes, ownership and governance matters, commercial transactions, and other issues affecting a company’s operations, value, and long-term direction.

Ryan brings a business-centered perspective to both litigation and transactional matters. In commercial disputes, he focuses on identifying the controlling contractual language, organizing the financial and factual record, and developing an efficient strategy aligned with the client’s business objectives. In acquisitions and other transactions, Ryan assists with due diligence, transaction documents, corporate structuring, risk allocation, and the practical issues involved in buying, selling, or reorganizing a business. His experience with both disputes and transactions helps him recognize how decisions made during a deal can prevent—or create—future litigation.

At LHCP, Ryan has worked on commercial disputes involving lease enforcement, restrictive covenants, contractual fee provisions, business separations, disputed ownership interests, personal guaranties, escrowed funds, and access to company records. His experience includes preparing motions, legal memoranda, written discovery, deposition materials, hearing briefs, and settlement communications in complex state and federal matters. He has also addressed evidentiary and procedural issues involving attorney-client privilege, corporate control of privileged communications, arbitration procedures, injunctive relief, defaults, and dispositive motions.

Ryan has worked on construction and real-estate matters involving contractor payments, construction liens, condominium common elements, project delays, defective work, project closeout, and Florida’s pre-suit construction-defect procedures. His related property experience includes commercial and residential foreclosures, default and acceleration notices, quiet-title actions, easement disputes, ejectment claims, partition proceedings, and disputes involving heirs’ property. This work has given him experience with matters in which contractual rights, project records, property interests, and broader business considerations intersect.

Before joining LHCP, Ryan worked in PwC’s Tax M&A practice. He prepared tax due-diligence reports and corporate-restructuring models for transactions involving healthcare, real-estate, and private-equity companies. Ryan also analyzed tax returns, intercompany transactions, and prior acquisitions to identify potentially adverse tax attributes and researched the federal tax authorities applicable to clients and acquisition targets. This experience allows him to approach transactions with an understanding of their financial structure, business objectives, and potential tax and litigation consequences.

Ryan’s additional experience includes researching and drafting a multinational data-retention policy addressing legal requirements in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. He also analyzed corporate disclosure obligations under the Corporate Transparency Act. While working with a real-estate development company, Ryan evaluated project profitability, costs, materials, and timelines and assisted with joint ventures, governmental grants, and development permitting.

Education and Academic Experience

Ryan earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as a student attorney in the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic. Through the clinic, he worked directly with clients confronting federal tax controversies and developed experience analyzing financial records, applying complex regulatory requirements, and communicating practical solutions. He also served as Secretary of the Privacy and Technology Law Society and as a representative in the Sports Law Society.

Ryan earned his Master of Business Administration with distinction from Bradley University. While completing his M.B.A., he served as a graduate assistant for Bradley’s Center for Cybersecurity. In that role, he managed the center’s budget and marketing initiatives, supported its programming, and presented his published research at the Midwest Association on Information Systems Annual Conference.

Ryan received his Bachelor of Science in Political Science cum laude from Bradley, with a minor in Business Law. He competed for five years as an NCAA Division I pitcher and served as team captain in 2021. Ryan was a two-time recipient of the Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner’s Academic Excellence Award, a four-time MVC Honor Roll selection, and a seven-time member of the Bradley Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. His business education and athletic experience shaped the commercial perspective, disciplined preparation, competitiveness, and composure he brings to his legal practice.

Beyond the Office

Originally from West Chicago, Illinois, Ryan chose Jacksonville to be closer to family and to establish his legal practice in North Florida. Outside the office, he enjoys practicing jiu-jitsu, golfing, fishing, playing tennis, hiking, reading science fiction, and following football, baseball, and University of Michigan athletics.