Ryan D. Cwach

Attorney

Ryan D. Cwach grew up on his family farm a few miles north of Yankton, South Dakota. Ryan's family roots are well-planted in the region. His great great grandfather Mathias Cwach immigrated from the Czech Republic as a teenager. The family's passage to America was not easy and included several years working in Missouri iron mines. The family eventually moved to Yankton County and became American citizens shortly thereafter. Mathias Cwach became one of the most successful pioneers in the region, and the Cwach family has continued farming and ranching in the region ever since. 

Ryan grew up on a true family farm with grandparents, great-uncles and great-aunts, aunts and uncles, and his father working side-by-side to get a crop planted or a calf born. By growing up in a family that has worked the same land for multiple generations, Ryan knows the importance of careful planning to keep the family farm going.  He dedicates most of his legal practice to helping area farmers successfully map out their family farm succession plan. Each family and each farm is different. He appreciates the challenge, and the results are their own reward. His other legal areas of practice include general estate planning, business entities, real estate, and probate administration.

Ryan graduated Magna Cum Laude in Political Science and Economics with a minor in Latin at the University of South Dakota. While at USD, Ryan led the Carbon Task Force, a committee of students, professors, and USD employees that developed the University's first blueprint for adopting renewable energy and other sustainability best practices. After college, Ryan attended the University of Iowa College of Law in Iowa City, Iowa. While in law school, Ryan's interest in renewable energy continued to grow working for the Iowa Office of Energy Independence and producing a report analyzing the legal and regulatory framework of Iowa's wind energy economy. Shortly after law school, Ryan's groundbreaking research on the South Dakota wind energy policy was published in Volume 58 of the South Dakota Law Review. He was recently published in Volume ___ of the South Dakota Law Review regarding his service regarding the impeachment of the South Dakota Attorney General.

Ryan also finds time to serve the community. He is a former State Representative in the South Dakota House of Representatives. He is currently on the Meridian Bridge Centennial Committee, and a former Board Member for Yankton County Historical Society, Yankton Area Chamber of Commerce’s Agricultural Committee, andSoutheast CASA. Ryan was recently profiled in the national American Bar Association magazine as one of the leading young attorneys in rural America. He is the Secretary for the South Dakota State Bar Project Rural Practice Task Force, which is dedicated to finding ways to get more attorneys into rural communities.