Ryals is a lawyer in the Atlanta office of Stone Law Group who represents individual and corporate plaintiffs in the areas of catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, medical negligence, civil fraud/RICO, as well as commercial and consumer litigation. Ryals is the oldest son of Stone Law Group senior partner William S. Stone. The firm’s predecessor was founded in 1915 by Ryals’ great-grandfather, the late William Lowrey Stone. Past members of the firm include Ryals’ grandfather, Lowrey S. Stone, who later served for fifteen years as Chief Judge of Superior Courts, Pataula Judicial Circuit. Upon being admitted to the Georgia Bar, Ryals proudly became the 5th straight generation of Georgia attorneys in the Stone family.Ryals was born in Albany, Georgia on February 1, 1982. He grew up in the rural Southwest Georgia town of Blakely (Early County). Ryals graduated high school with honors from Southwest Georgia Academy in 2000. After high school Ryals attended the University of Georgia, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2005 while majoring in History.Ryals received his law degree in 2009 from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Following his second year of law school, he participated in a Summer Study Abroad at the University of Cambridge in England and was awarded the highest marks in both international comparative constitutional law and professional responsibility. While at law school, Ryals earned the top grade in several other classes, including Basic Skills in Trial Advocacy. As a 3rd Year law student, Ryals was also selected as an Abraham J. Caruthers Fellow, serving as a mentor to 1L’s as part of Cumberland’s renowned first-year legal research and writing program. Throughout his third year at Cumberland, Ryals worked part-time as a law clerk for both the in-house counsel’s office at Southern Progress Corporation and the Bessemer, Alabama District Attorney’s Office.Ryals became a member of the State Bar of Georgia in 2010. Ryals is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Georgia, as well as the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court.Ryals is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA), the American Bar Association (AAJ), the American Association of Justice, the Atlanta Bar Association, and he currently serves as the President of the Pataula Bar Association. Ryals currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia, as well as the Civil Justice PAC Board of Directors. For the past 2 years Ryals has been a member of the GTLA Executive Committee as the Committee Chair for the LEAD Program ("Leadership Education and Advanced Direction), a leadership academy which he co-founded in 2013 for talented young Georgia trial lawyers. During his career as an trial attorney, Ryals has handled many complex civil cases, and he has been an integral member of the Stone Law Group trial team during several multi-week jury trials which have resulted in verdicts, judgments, and settlements of over $100 million combined.Ryals resides in Atlanta with his wife Lauren, and they are currently expecting their first child in May 2015. Together they enjoy cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs, traveling, spending time with family, friends, and their black lab "Bubba."