Ryan Riegg
UCLA School of Law, Law, Alumnus
- Ryan is passionate about sharing knowledge with others and has published front-page, viral articles in Newsweek, Vox, The Hill, & Vice, as well as in law journals at Cornell, UCLA, & U.Denver. Ryan's published work covers a variety of to... moreRyan is passionate about sharing knowledge with others and has published front-page, viral articles in Newsweek, Vox, The Hill, & Vice, as well as in law journals at Cornell, UCLA, & U.Denver. Ryan's published work covers a variety of topics, including entertainment law, Islamic law, family law, antitrust/competition law, & international legal issues. As an adjunct professor, Ryan has taught classes on Business Law, Emerging Markets, Future Societies, and Consulting Challenges at the MBA and undergraduate level, as well as given talks on International Corporate Structuring and Startup Law at Hult International Business School, Park University, & Duke.
In his spare time, Ryan is an Innovation Fellow for Columbia Business School's Entrepreneurship Center.
Ryan has been licensed to practice law for over 12 years and is a graduate of UCLA Law and USC. A long-time global traveler and son of a US diplomat, Ryan has worked in 70 countries and lived in 12. Consequently, Ryan's legal-counsel is often useful to companies doing business internationally.
Ryan's voyage into law school and international entrepreneurship began in a refugee camp, where he created a startup to provide jobs to people in the camp. And, in the process, reversed a 3-year ban on the import of hookahs/shishas/argilehs into the US in US Customs Court. His voyage back to California began when he gave a series of talks at Duke, took a 8 month rail journey across the US and, most importantly, married his long-time partner, who he met, fittingly, on a plane from Amman to Riyadh.
Currently, Ryan lives and works in San Francisco as a corporate attorney.edit
Research Interests: Islamic Law, Political Science, Law and Politics, Law and Economics, Saudi Arabia, and 12 moreMiddle Eastern Politics, Middle Eastern Studies, Middle East Politics, International Relations of Middle East, Economic Diplomacy, Foreign Policy of Saudi Arabia, Saudi legal system, International Politics of the Middle East, Saudi Arabian History, Gender Differences in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia Growth Development, and US Foreign Policy Towards Saudi Arabia
Unlike other areas of law, where rules have either been borrowed from Western regimes or only apply to certain segments of society, Saudi family law touches every member of Saudi society, from ordinary citizens to royalty, and originates... more
Unlike other areas of law, where rules have either been borrowed from Western regimes or only apply to certain segments of society, Saudi family law touches every member of Saudi society, from ordinary citizens to royalty, and originates in an Islamic legal tradition that predates most modern legal systems by several hundred years. Nonetheless, most writers on Saudi Arabia (the Kingdom) have largely neglected the role of Saudi family law in influencing the Kingdom’s royal family and policymaking, despite the dominance of family businesses, tribes, and family offices in the Saudi economy and state. This Article outlines how Saudi family law produces economic incentives that, without reform, make the maintenance of political stability in the Kingdom unlikely past three generations.
Accordingly, this Article can be understood as an alternative and supplement to the dominant political science theory for understanding Saudi policymaking, Rentier State Theory (RST). Specifically, this Article demonstrates how the incentives produced by Saudi family law can more accurately predict Saudi policymaking and disruptive political events than RST, including, but not limited to, the Kingdom’s Ritz-Carlton purge and building of largescale commercial real estate projects, which might otherwise appear irrational to outside observers. The Article begins with a discussion on the mathematics of polygamy in the Kingdom and ends with a discussion of how the incentives produced by Saudi’s family law system produce far-ranging implications for both the Kingdom’s neighbors and its current allies, including, but not limited to, the United States and Israel. The Article concludes with legal reforms that the current Saudi state may wish to undertake, should it wish to avoid a similar fate to the previous two Saudi states, both of which collapsed in under three generations (1744–1814; 1824–1891). Additionally, reforms suggested over fifty years ago by Saudi prince Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud are analyzed, as well as various legal customs found within Jordan, which Saudi policymakers may wish to borrow from and modify to provide the Kingdom increased political stability in the longer term.
Accordingly, this Article can be understood as an alternative and supplement to the dominant political science theory for understanding Saudi policymaking, Rentier State Theory (RST). Specifically, this Article demonstrates how the incentives produced by Saudi family law can more accurately predict Saudi policymaking and disruptive political events than RST, including, but not limited to, the Kingdom’s Ritz-Carlton purge and building of largescale commercial real estate projects, which might otherwise appear irrational to outside observers. The Article begins with a discussion on the mathematics of polygamy in the Kingdom and ends with a discussion of how the incentives produced by Saudi’s family law system produce far-ranging implications for both the Kingdom’s neighbors and its current allies, including, but not limited to, the United States and Israel. The Article concludes with legal reforms that the current Saudi state may wish to undertake, should it wish to avoid a similar fate to the previous two Saudi states, both of which collapsed in under three generations (1744–1814; 1824–1891). Additionally, reforms suggested over fifty years ago by Saudi prince Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud are analyzed, as well as various legal customs found within Jordan, which Saudi policymakers may wish to borrow from and modify to provide the Kingdom increased political stability in the longer term.