Ryan M. Seidemann, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Florida State University, focusing on human remains analysis with research at the Smithsonian Institution and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He completed a master’s degree in Anthropology at Louisiana State University with a thesis on Maya skeletal remains from Belize. His early work in cultural resource management sparked his interest in the intersection of nature and society. Ryan later earned both a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Juris Doctorate at LSU and, in 2021, a Ph.D. in Urban Studies/Urban Anthropology from the University of New Orleans, with a dissertation on cemetery preservation inequities in New Orleans.

Throughout his law practice in both Louisiana and Vermont, Ryan has continuously show cased his ability to balance the intersecting world of environmental science and law. Ryan previously served as an Assistant Attorney General (2005-2024) and Chief of the Lands & Natural Resources Section (2007-2024) of the Louisiana Department of Justice. In that position, he represented the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, the Office of State Lands, Louisiana Cemetery Board, and the Louisiana Division of Archaeology, among other government agencies. He has argued cases in most Louisiana district courts, all Louisiana appellate courts, and multiple times before the Louisiana Supreme Court. Ryan has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications on human remains, cemeteries, and environmental and mineral law.

Ryan specializes in complex interactions of the law and social sciences, with particular focus on disaster response, mortuary archaeology, and historic preservation. Ryan's legal practice spans more than 20 years of research, writing, and advising on matters of water, environmental, property, and natural resources law.