By Renee Lapham Collins
Legal News
Although he worked at construction, retail and law enforcement, Ryan LePeak always knew he wanted to become a lawyer.
“I remember in 2008, when I was a police officer, I was sitting in court and I thought to myself, ‘I’m in the wrong chair,’” LePeak recalled. “I went home and told my wife and she said I should just do it.”
Still, it took the Jackson Northwest High and Michigan State graduate another few years before he actually took the LSAT and started his legal journey.
LePeak said he has harbored an interest in criminal law since his youth.
“I would frequently research criminals from the past and read stories or news accounts about them,” he recalled. “It didn’t matter whether it was serial killers, 1920s mobsters or outlaws of the Old West.”
LePeak said his interest in the history of crime “drove” him into police work. Even as an undergraduate at MSU, LePeak said, “I was taking criminal justice and criminology classes because that was the type of material that interested me.”
Despite his interest in crime and history, when he was in high school, he was not sure what he wanted to do with his life.
“I had friends who were in the police Explorers program with the Jackson Police Department and after we graduated, they went into the reserve officer program,” LePeak said. “When I was at MSU, we’d get together on the weekends and we would talk and one night in 1996, one of them mentioned that the Jackson PD was putting together a new reserve officer police class and asked if I’d be interested.”
LePeak said he had heard stories for years from his friends about their experiences with “chasing bad guys” and it rekindled his interest in crime. He was one of five selected out of a pool of 100 applicants and he spent a year in the Jackson PD reserve police officer academy, which met once a week.
“At that time, if reserve officers were with certified officers, they had police powers,” LePeak said. “So I did that and finished my degree at MSU in geography.”
LePeak also was working at Sam’s Club in retail management and once he finished school, he searched for a job in geography.
“I really wanted to interpret aerial photos for the government—I had a specialization in that—and I had an interview at Abrams Aerial Survey in Lansing,” LePeak said.
Although he interviewed well enough to garner an offer from the survey company, the pay offer was about four bucks an hour less than Sam’s was paying. So he stuck with retail management. Eventually, LePeak said, he heard Jackson PD was hiring.
“They were looking for reserve officers who would make good police officers,” he said. “It was just the right call at the right time. I was so sick of retail by then.”
He had some reservations about his ability to be stern or even mean, he recalled.
“But a guy I knew who was a cop said I’d lose that one week out of the academy, and he was right. I like to think I treated people fair. I enjoyed police work while I was there. Actually, I loved it.”
The 12-hour shifts and the variety taught him a great deal about the law and how it works. He often worked undercover and he also became savvy with search and seizure laws, especially search warrants and what he refers to as “the street stuff.”
“Knowing how to write a police report and having had the experience of writing them as well as knowing the procedures with things like field sobriety tests, the Miranda, and the Fourth Amendment, that all was information and experience I took to law school,” LePeak explained.
LePeak graduated from Cooley Law School in 2014. His legal practice is still in its infancy, but the 40-year-old is passionate about finally settling into his dream career. Currently, he has an office in Parma, near Jackson, and specializes in wills, estate, property, and criminal defense.
“When I was making the transition to being a lawyer, I was still working part-time as a police officer,” he said. “Now, I In fact, take pretty much everything that walks through the door, property, estate, criminal defense.”
The small practice means he must draft his own briefs, but he views it as just part of the legal package. In fact, he said he cannot imagine anyone else doing it right now.
“I love to write and while I was in law school, I received three of the book awards, the research and writing, the scholarly writing, and trial skills,” he said. “So I couldn’t imagine having somebody else write my briefs. I really think you need to do your own research.”
Doing his own research, he said, helps him get to know his cases “inside and out.” He said in the future he “could picture someone else doing the research and writing but for now, I think it really needs to be me. And I enjoy it. I still enjoy it.”
In his spare time, LePeak plays softball three times a week—in winter, he’s bowling thrice weekly—and he spends as much time as he can with his two children, a 14-year-old daughter, Rylie, and Tobyn, his 11-year-old son. He also enjoys video games like “Call of Duty” and “Madden Football,” and playing guitar.
“I have a good friend I’ve played guitar with for about 20 years,” LePeak said. “We only play heavy metal. We see each other all the time, but it’s hard to find the time to play. And like a lot of other things, you don’t have the endurance that you had 20 years ago. In the past, I could play for hours, but now I don’t have the calluses I used to have.”
LePeak confesses to loving the music of Slayer and Pantera, two metal bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s, and Iron Maiden, which is a favorite of his son. He also enjoys novels by John Grisham.
“What appeals to me most about the law currently is the true variety of law and how much it impacts our society,” LePeak said. “When you’re growing up, ‘law’ pretty much means ‘criminal law’ to most people. Then as you age you realize there is such a vast variety of law, you truly can find something you are passionate about and make a career out of it.”
In the future, LePeak said, he hopes to have an opportunity to join a corporate office and practice business law, especially with a business where travel is involved.
“I’ve always loved seeing new places and seeing how their communities differ from ours in Michigan,” he said.
Right now, he said he is happy with his current situation, but feels he has done enough criminal law.
“It feels like it is time to try something new and exciting,” he said. “The legislature intrigues me and I think it would be interesting to have experience in all three branches of government.
“So, someday, you may see me on a ballot.”
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