Ryan Baker Named One of California’s Top 100 Lawyers by Daily Journal

Daily Journal has named Co-Founding Partner Ryan Baker to its 2024 list of the Top 100 Lawyers In California. One of state’s leading trial and appellate lawyers, Baker handles a wide range of civil matters for both plaintiffs and defendants, often dealing with innovative or disruptive technology.

The Top 100 list, published September 4, 2024, recognizes lawyers who have made an impact on the legal profession by handling the most challenging and cutting-edge work. Baker’s recent victories include an 8-0 federal trial win in a high-profile trade secrets case. On behalf of his plaintiff clients, Baker obtained an $18.3 damages award, as well as the invalidation of two patents defendants wrongfully obtained using plaintiffs’ trade secrets. In another recent trial, Baker successfully defended his commercial real estate firm client against several claims related to a charter school facility in downtown Los Angeles. Baker took that case after the commercial real estate firm had lost an initial trial over damages for an earlier time period. On what was essentially the same factual record, Baker was stuck with many of the trial court’s prior rulings. Facing that record, Baker and his team successfully argued for the exclusion of plaintiff’s damages expert, leaving the plaintiff without any support for its substantial (and previously successful) damages theories.

Baker also gives back. He regularly handles pro bono matters through California’s Central District pro bono panel. Speaking of these efforts, Baker said, “Advocacy skills of any level should be brought to bear not only for paying clients, but also for the benefit of those in need, and it is providing assistance to the marginalized that is often the most satisfying part of my job.” In his latest pro bono matter, Baker and his team are set to represent the mother of a young man who was shot and killed by the LAPD in a wrongful death trial in early 2025.

Speaking of the Top 100 award, Baker commented that “this award speaks to the quality of advocacy and dedication of the attorneys and staff of the entire Waymaker firm; trials are a massive team effort, and the Waymaker team is second to none.”