Ryan Hughes

Ryan’s scope of practice includes:

• TABC violations and investigations.
• Liquor licensing and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Compliance.
• Liquor liability defense aka Dram Shop Defense.
• Business entity formation.
• Purchase and sale of businesses in the alcohol industry.
• Mixed beverage audit defense before the State Comptroller.
• Private club formation.
• Defending Protests against TABC applications.
• TABC audits.
• TABC emergency order suspensions.
• Alcohol related  city ordinance variances and specific use permits.

Ryan & his team have developed the reputation as the go to liquor lawyers & consultants for the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and they represent businesses throughout the entire state of Texas. Out of over 80 TABC hearings held before the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), Ryan litigated one of the only successful emergency suspension order hearings during covid, resulting in the emergency suspension order being lifted and his client being allowed to reopen after being shut down suddenly for 30 days with no warning. Ryan regularly disputes TABC violations before the TABC and SOAH and vigorously defends his clients when a violation is alleged against them. Since Ryan began handling mixed beverage sales tax/gross receipt tax audits before the State Comptroller, he has successfully negotiated the reduction of multiple audit liability assessments by more than six figure amounts.

Prior to attending law school, Ryan graduated from Texas Tech University in 2012 with the  Bachelor of Business Administration and Management. Ryan attended law school at Texas A&M University where he was inducted into the legal honor society Phi Delta Phi. He received his J.D. from A&M in May 2016 and has been exclusively practicing liquor law ever since.