About Ryan
Ryan Locke built his legal foundation at the University of Richmond, where he studied rhetoric, communications and psychology and completed his bachelor’s degree in 2007. He went on to earn a J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law in 2010. While at Georgia, he received recognition for classroom performance tied to the Socratic method, an unusual note that classmates remember for its blend of rigor and theatricality.
He entered public service immediately after law school. In 2010 he joined the Office of the Public Defender in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit as a staff lawyer. That role placed him in daily contact with courtroom practice and client advocacy. Two years later he moved into private practice when he joined Goodman McGuffey in 2012, taking on a broader docket and more complex trial work.
Teaching has also been part of his professional life. In 2014 he served as an adjunct professor of law at Emory University School of Law. Students who took his classes encountered someone who brought frontline courtroom experience into the seminar room. His time in academia was short but practical, combining case law with examples drawn from his public defender and private practice work.
Locke holds admission in Georgia and is authorized to appear before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He maintains memberships in several professional organizations that reflect the mix of his practice: the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association of Justice. Those affiliations inform his approach to trial procedure and courtroom strategy and keep him connected to peers across trial and criminal defense communities.
His private practice life is organized through Locke Law Office, LLC. There he draws on years of trial experience and courtroom work that began in Atlanta’s public defender offices and continued through private firm practice. Colleagues describe him as steady under pressure and deliberate in courtroom preparation, traits that trace back to early days handling often high-volume public defender dockets.
He currently practices at Locke Law Office, LLC, representing clients in Georgia state courts and in matters before the Eleventh Circuit.
