John Swanson grew up in Sacramento. He graduated from Stanford University in 1982, receiving Bachelor's degrees in History and Economics. He is a member of the Stanford Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from law school in 1985, receiving his JD from the School of Law at the University of California at Berkely (Boalt Hall). He was admitted to the California bar in 1985 and the Nevada bar in 2002.

In 1985, Mr. Swanson published his first article entitled "Privacy Limitations on Civil Discovery in Federal and California Practice," 17 Pac. L.J. 1( 1985).  Since then, he has published a number of articles, large and small, mostly on issues of real estate law, homeowner's association law and ERISA. 

Mr. Swanson practiced with a large Sacramento firm for 13 years, the last 4 years as a partner.  In 1998, he left to form a smaller firm, which quickly grew.  In December of 2002, he left that firm to form his own firm. 

Mr. Swanson has defended insurance companies in bad faith matters.  He has handled over 100 such matters, including jury trials.  Over the past few years, he has served as the national coordinating counsel for Construction Defects matters for a major liability insurer. He has focused on construction law, insurance for construction defects, and related matters for the last few years.

Mr. Swanson is also an experienced commercial litigation attorney.  He has handled numerous real property, partnership and fraud actions in both the state and federal courts.  He has evicted hundreds of tenants on behalf of their landlords.  He has handled complex banking, check kiting, and UCC litigation. He is on the panel counsel list of the California Association of Realtors.