Fishman Haygood LLP

Commercial Disputes

Jim Swanson is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Section. He represents state and local governments, corporations, and individuals in cases involving municipal finance, derivatives, CDOs, Ponzi schemes, corporate tax, coastal land loss, environmental damage, industrial and environmental accidents, and a range of other subject areas. Jim’s efforts are recorded in over 100 reported decisions.

Jim is particularly known for his securities practice and has obtained multimillion-dollar judgments for his clients in jury and bench trials and commercial arbitrations. Recently, he was counsel to investors defrauded in R. Allen Stanford’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme in their litigation against the five banks that the investors allege aided and abetted or knowingly participated in the scheme. Settlements totaling $1.6 billion were reached with five bank defendants on the eve of trial in early 2023.

In addition to his established securities practice, Jim is working on a series of cases involving coastal land loss and other forms of environmental damage for governmental entities and private landowners. He also represents several commercial contractors in confidential international treaty arbitrations arising out of large-scale infrastructure and industrial development projects. Most recently, Jim and his team prosecuted bilateral investment treaty claims before a tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in London on behalf of a Turkish contractor against a North African nation for defaulting on housing and infrastructure contracts and won a substantial unanimous award from the ICC panel.

While the majority of Jim’s practice is plaintiff focused, he also represents defendants.

Jim has been a regular faculty member of the Practicing Law Institute’s annual program Securities Litigation: From Investigation to Trial. He has also taught at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and Tulane University Law School.

Member, International Society of Barristers

Fellow, American Bar Foundation

Fellow, Louisiana Bar Foundation

Member, New Orleans Bar Association

Member (Executive Committee and Chairman of the Investment Committee), Xavier University of Louisiana Board of Trustees

Member, Baylor College of Medicine President’s Circle

Member, Baylor College of Medicine Board of Advisors

Former Board Member, Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought

Former Board Member, New Orleans Opera Association

Former Chairman, Choice Foundation

J.D., magna cum laude, from Tulane University School of Law, 1987 B.A. from Tulane University, 1984