Bryan is a 1975 graduate of Upper Arlington high school in Columbus, Ohio. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979 from Denison University, with a major in economics. He received his Juris Doctorate law degree in 1983 from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio. To pay for his law school education he worked days as a Bailiff in the Probate Court of Franklin County, Ohio, and attended law school at night.
Bryan was then admitted to practice law in 1983, and served as a named partner in the downtown Columbus law firm of Gamble, Hartshorn & Johnson, LLC starting in 1991. He served as partner in charge of the estate planning, probate administration, and probate litigation departments. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell. In December 2010 he decided to leave his partner position at the law firm to move his law practice back to his “roots” in the suburbs in his hometown community of Upper Arlington, where he has been focusing his practice on estate planning, probate administration, and probate litigation.
Bryan has been named an “Ohio Super Lawyer” by Cincinnati Magazine. He was also chosen from attorneys throughout the state of Ohio to serve as chairperson of probate committee of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers. He was also chosen from attorneys throughout central Ohio to serve as chairperson of the probate committee of the Franklin County Trial Lawyers Association.
Bryan is the former chairperson of the Columbus Bar Association mental disabilities law committee. He was selected as a “Leader in Law” by the Columbus Bar Association, and has received a commendation from the Ohio House of Representatives as a “Leader in Law.” He continues as an active member of the probate and elder law committees of the Columbus Bar Association. He is an active member of the probate, trust law, and estate planning section and the elder law section of the Ohio State Bar Association.
Bryan is a frequent speaker for professional and civic organizations throughout the state of Ohio on estate planning, probate administration, and in particular on probate litigation. He has authored numerous copyrighted educational materials, and given numerous educational seminars throughout the country, to train attorneys and judges on related topics through the Ohio State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Institute, Ohio Judicial College, Columbus Bar Association, Franklin County Department of Health and Human Services, Probate Educational Co-Op, National Business Institute, Sterling Education Services, Inc., and the former Bank One, Columbus, N.A. He has authored copyrighted educational materials, and given an educational seminar to train the probate judges throughout the state of Ohio on probate related topics through the Ohio Association of Probate Judges of the Ohio Judicial College. He has prepared educational materials, and given educational seminars to the public through the Ohio Health Care Association, local hospitals’ “I Can Cope” cancer treatment programs, and local nursing homes and assisted living facilities. He is a former adjunct professor of probate law at Columbus State Community College, and has given graduate level instruction in law related topics at The Ohio State University College of Engineering.
Bryan is admitted to the practice of law in the state of Ohio, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
Bryan is active in a wide variety of professional and community related activities. He was a member and fellow of the Columbus Bar Foundation, a panel member on the Columbus Bar Association’s Saturday morning call-in show with host Bob Connors on WTVN radio, a commentator for WSYX television, the local affiliate of ABC and FOX television, for certain legal issues, he has rendered pro bono legal services to indigent clients, both on his own and through the Columbus Bar Association Lawyers for Justice program and the Franklin County Volunteer Guardian program, he served as volunteer judge for regional and state competitions of the Ohio High School Mock Trial programs presented by the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education, served as volunteer judge for the Michael F. Colley Mock Trial competitions presented by the Michael E. Moritz College of Law of the Ohio State University, served as a volunteer mediator for the Franklin County Common Pleas Court settlement week program, participated in the David D. White Scholarship Fund at Capital University Law School, performed manual construction and repairs to homes of low income homeowners for the Columbus Christmas in April, Inc. and Columbus Habitat for Humanity programs.