About Ryan C.
Ryan C. Shellady built his legal foundation at the University of Iowa. He earned a B.A. in Ethics and Public Policy in 2016 and continued at the University of Iowa College of Law, receiving his J.D. in 2019. He entered practice with a background in child advocacy and family defense work that shaped his early career choices.
While in law school and immediately after, Shellady pursued hands-on work that put him inside courtrooms and advocacy clinics. He served as a law clerk at the Family Defense Center in 2017 and was a fellow at the University of Michigan Child Advocacy Law Clinic the same year. Those roles exposed him to the practical and emotional dimensions of family law, and to the procedures that affect children and parents in court settings.
After law school he joined Brown, Winick, Graves, Gross, and Baskerville, P.L.C. as an associate in 2019. At that firm he worked on matters that drew on his clinical and clerkship experience. In 2019 he also became a member of the United Family Advocates’ National Working Group, aligning with a network of practitioners and policymakers focused on family issues. Those early professional steps kept him close to the kinds of cases he had seen in clinic and in the defense center.
Shellady is licensed in both Iowa and Colorado and maintains membership in the Iowa State Bar. He has balanced courtroom work with collaborative advocacy, and has spent time on interdisciplinary projects that bring together attorneys, social workers, and community organizations. His trajectory shows a consistent interest in systems that affect families and children, rather than a pivot to corporate practice or litigation that is purely commercial in nature.
He is currently part of the team at Burnham Law. His move there followed several years of practice that combined litigation, client counseling, and policy-oriented group work. Colleagues describe him as methodical in preparing cases and direct in court.
He handles family law and child advocacy matters and represents clients in cases that involve custody, parental rights, and related proceedings. He currently practices at Burnham Law handling family and child advocacy work.
