Ryan M. Shannon

Member and Insurance - Regulatory Practice Group Chair

Ryan M. Shannon, a member in Dickinson Wright’s Lansing office, focuses his practice on state administrative law and appellate practice. As chair of the firm’s insurance regulatory practice, he represents insurance carriers, HMOs, agencies, third party administrators, and other insurance industry entities in compliance and licensing matters. He has also represented dozens of Michigan municipalities in administrative and appellate proceedings related to property tax valuation, exemption, classification and other disputes. He routinely acts as counsel to both public and private entities in legislative matters, in constitutional litigation, in navigating and litigating transparency and sunshine laws, and in matters related to utility and clean energy regulation as well. Ryan was recognized by Best Lawyers in America.

Education & Credentials

Education

Michigan State University

B.A., 2007

With High Honors

University of Michigan Law School

J.D., 2010

With Honors
Book Award, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility
Scholarly Writing Award
Contributing Editor, Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Bar Admission

Michigan

Acknowledgements

Best Lawyers in America®
- Insurance Law, 2023-2024
Michigan Super Lawyers®
- "Rising Star," Business Litigation, 2016-2021

Representative Clients

City of Grosse Pointe Farms
City of Hudsonville
City of Lansing
City of Lowell
City of Rockford
CorePointe Insurance Company
Michigan's Largest Health Care Company and Insurance Subsidiaries
MSU Foundation
MTL Insurance Company
Pekin Insurance Company
Webber Township

Prominent Assignments

Lansing is where I was born and raised. While at the University of Michigan Law School, I worked for the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. I knew I wanted to focus on regulatory, constitutional, and government work, and so I started working in Dickinson Wright’s Lansing office straight after graduating in 2007. In my day-to-day practice, I assist both commercial and governmental entities in a variety of administrative and litigation contexts, with a focus on energy, municipal taxation, and insurance regulatory matters.

My prominent assignments include:

Legislative drafting and government affairs counsel on successful projects to amend the Michigan clean energy laws, multiple chapters of the Michigan insurance code, and Michigan’s general insurance laws.
Communications and government affairs counsel for clients seeking to provide input on the development of federal financing regulations and model laws by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Regulatory counsel to municipal energy utilities and generation resource owners including in proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Litigation and appellate counsel to lawmakers, their staff, and state agencies in connection with constitutional and other litigation before the Michigan Court of Appeals and Michigan Supreme Court.
Amicus counsel for governmental associations, insurance trade groups, and political action groups in appellate matters.
Compliance and litigation counsel for municipal and state agency clients on FOIA and Open Meetings Act matters.
Litigation and regulatory counsel to dozens of Michigan municipalities throughout the state in administrative agency proceedings and appeals relating to property tax valuation, exemption, classification, and other disputes arising under the Michigan General Property Tax Act.
Compliance and regulatory counsel to insurance carriers, health maintenance organizations, state guaranty funds, producers, managing general agents, third party administrators, premium finance companies, self-funded plans, captive insurers, reinsurers, Lloyds syndicates, and all manner of other and ancillary insurance entities in licensing, enforcement, product filings, transactional, and other matters before state departments of insurance and related agencies.
Routinely assist in preparation and filings under the insurance holding company act (Forms A, B, C, D, E, and F), Corporate Governance Annual Disclosures, Group Capital Calculations, Annual and Quarterly Financial Statements, Risk-Based Capital Calculations, and a variety of related reports and notices.
Obtained certificates of authority for P&C, Life, and Health carriers as well as surplus lines eligibility determinations in all 50 states and Washington D.C.
Routinely assist producers in obtaining and maintaining licenses in all 50 states and Washington D.C., including surplus lines authorities.
Obtained change of control approvals over the last decade for dozens of carriers and related entities domiciled in California, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Obtained approvals for bulk reinsurance, assumption reinsurance, loss portfolio transfers, and other reinsurance transactions from state departments of insurance.

Professional Involvement

Member, State Bar of Michigan, Administrative & Regulatory Law and Insurance & Indemnity Law Sections
Member, Society for Evolutionary Analysis in Law

Publications/Presentations

Business Interruption Insurance, Captives, and Coronavirus, Dickinson Wright Webinar, April 2020
Who is the Beneficiary? The Answer May Depend on Whether State Law or ERISA Applies, 25 Mich. L. W. 375 (February 2011) (with Kimberly J. Ruppel).
The "Enlightened Barbarity" of Inclusive Fitness and Wrongful Death: Biological Justifications for an Investment Theory of Loss in Wycko v. Gnodtke, 43 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 497 (2010).
Integrating Kin Selection Theory and Corrective Justice, Presentation at Society of Evolutionary Analysis and Law Annual Conference, College of William and Mary, April 10, 2010.
The Furloughing of Public Sector Employees, 27(4) Ill. Pub. Em. Rel. Rep. (Winter 2010).