Jim Swanson was among Fishman Haygood’s founding partners in 1996. He served as the firm’s Managing Partner for 16 years, and he is the current Chairman of its board of directors. As a commercial trial lawyer, Jim has particular experience in securities litigation, domestic and international arbitration, environmental litigation, and general commercial matters.
Jim has handled numerous cases in which clients have received multimillion-dollar recoveries. Notably, he was counsel to investors defrauded in R. Allen Stanford’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme in their lawsuit 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.
Jim accepts plaintiff and defense engagements. He is currently handling a major international arbitration over an interstate highway construction project in Pakistan, an oil spill case for a major oil company against a pipeline company, the claims by the City of Shreveport against various engineers and contractors, and several significant securities and breach of fiduciary duty cases.
For over 20 years, he has been top ranked by Chambers and Partners USA. Chambers praises Jim as “a terrific strategist” and “a strong, thoughtful, and tenacious trial lawyer,” with clients noting that he is “top-notch” and a “pretty fierce adversary.” In 2027, The Best Lawyers in America® named Jim “Lawyer of the Year” for Bet the Company Litigation (New Orleans), and clients praise him as being “intelligent and creative,” calling his legal applications “on point.”
He has served on many community boards, often holding leadership positions, including with Xavier University of Louisiana, Baylor College of Medicine, Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine, Choice Foundation, and Innocence Project New Orleans.
- Represents the City of Shreveport in an action seeking more than $500 million in damages from the engineering firm that designed and oversaw construction of improvements to the City’s sewerage system pursuant to a Consent Decree between the City and the Department of Justice.
- Represents contractor ETRAK INŞAAT TAAHHÜT VE TICARET ANONIM ŞIRKETI (Etrak) in ongoing enforcement efforts related to its favorable international arbitral award against the State of Libya for its failure to honor a settlement agreement between the parties. U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Jia Cobb confirmed the arbitral award and issued judgment in Etrak’s favor. The firm is now pursuing all avenues available domestically in the U.S., including the seizure of Libyan assets, to fulfill the terms of the Award.
- Represents the Official Stanford Investors Committee (OSIC), with claimed damages exceeding $5 billion, resulting from the infamous Stanford International Bank certificate of deposit Ponzi scheme. OSIC asserts aiding and abetting claims against Bank of New York Mellon for its role in providing banking services to the Stanford International Bank and its affiliated entities, facilitating investors’ purchases of fraudulent CDs.
- Represented individuals and the Official Stanford Investor’s Committee against five banks, with particular concentration on claims against Trustmark National Bank and Independent Bank of Texas (formerly known as Bank of Houston), in a lawsuit alleging the banks’ aiding and abetting of the $7 billion Ponzi scheme perpetrated by R. Allen Stanford. Settlements of $100 million were reached with both Trustmark and Bank of Houston in early 2023, with total recoveries from all five bank defendants (The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse) S.A., HSBC Bank plc, Trustmark, and Bank of Houston) amounting to more than $1.6 billion.
- Commercial
- Competition/antitrust
- Environmental
- International arbitration
- Plaintiff
- Securities
- Tax
- Tax disputes
- Banking
- Financial services
- Investment management
- Natural resources
- Oil and gas
- J.D., magna cum laude - Tulane University Law School - 1987
- B.A. in Economics - Tulane University - 1984
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
- Fellow, Louisiana Bar Foundation
- International Society of Barristers
- International Bar Association
- Louisiana State Bar Association
- Louisiana - 1987