Ryan received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law, where she served as co-editor of the Natural Resources Journal and authored Lobato v. Taylor: How the Villages of the Rio Culebra, the Colorado Supreme Court, and the Restatement of Servitudes Bailed Out the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, an article on the recent landmark decision vindicating the rights of the local community to the Sangre de Cristo land grant. Ryan clerked for Chief Justice Edward Chávez on the New Mexico Supreme Court in 2004-2005 before joining New Mexico Legal Aid.