Arthur Swanson

Arthur D. Swanson was the founding partner of what became Swanson Gardner Meyers Cohon PLLC, beginning his plaintiffs personal injury practice in Renton around 1965. He earned his B.A. magna cum laude in Economics from the University of Washington in 1977, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and then earned his J.D. with Honors from the University of Washington School of Law, receiving his Washington bar admission on October 24, 1980. Swanson served as President of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association in the early 1970s and spent time in the King County Prosecutor's Office. Over a 60-year legal career focused exclusively on plaintiff personal injury litigation, he built the firm into one of Washington's most recognized trial practices.

He was a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. Swanson was named WSAJ Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2014 and received both the ABOTA Trial Lawyer of the Year award and the ABOTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. He was recognized annually as a Washington Super Lawyer beginning in 2003. Arthur D. Swanson passed away on January 28, 2023.