Hunter A. Swain is the founder and principal attorney at Swain Law, LLC. He has dedicated his entire career to representing employees in disputes with their employers.
Mr. Swain’s law practice is committed to the fight for employee rights. He works tirelessly to help employees who have been harmed by their employers. Mr. Swain takes pride in being a tenacious litigator and compassionate counselor.
Mr. Swain was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. He fell in love with the American west as a child, and in his late teens he moved to Colorado. After graduating cum laude from Colorado College, Mr. Swain worked as a financial advisor at a boutique wealth management firm. He then went on to study law at the University of Colorado Law School, where he graduated in the top 11% of his class. While attending law school, Mr. Swain served as a Casenote & Comment Editor on the University of Colorado Law Review. He also worked for two years as a teaching assistant to the first- and second-year Legal Writing and Appellate Court Advocacy classes.
After law school, Mr. Swain practiced law in the New York City office of the nationwide employment law firm Outten & Golden, LLP, where he primarily represented executives and Wall Street professionals. In 2014, he moved back to Denver and continued representing employees at the employment and civil rights law firm King & Greisen, LLP.
In 2018, Mr. Swain founded Swain Law, LLC with a simple mission: to provide employees aggressive representation with compassion and integrity. Mr. Swain firmly believes that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace.
In addition to practicing law full-time, Mr. Swain is a member of the adjunct teaching faculty at the University of Colorado Law School. Most recently, he co-taught the skills-based course Federal Litigation: Everything but the Trial.
Mr. Swain and his wife live in Denver with their two sons. When Mr. Swain is not fighting for employee rights, he enjoys skiing, chess & board games, hiking, backpacking, and anything related to the Grateful Dead.
Awards and Recognition:
- 5280 Top Lawyers, Labor & Employment Law (2022)
- Colorado Super Lawyers Rising Star in Employment & Labor Law (2017 – 2023)
- 10.0 Avvo Rating
Leadership Roles and Public Service:
- Chair, Amicus Committee, Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association (2022 to Present)
- Board of Directors, Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association (2020 to 2022)
- Executive Council, Colorado Bar Association Civil Rights Section (2019 to 2020)
- President, Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association (2018 to 2019)
- Secretary, Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association (2015 to 2017)
- Amicus Curiae Counsel, National Employment Lawyers Association (2017)
- Annual Convention Planning Committee, National Employment Lawyers Association (2017 to 2019)
- Board of Directors, Boulder County Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (2010 to 2013)
Articles and Book Chapters:
- Section 1981: A Powerful Tool for Race Discrimination Claims, Trial Talk Magazine, July-September 2022
- Accommodation and Disability Rights in the Midst of a Pandemic and Beyond, Trial Talk Magazine, June/July 2020 (with co-author Laura Wolf)
- Negligent Hiring (chapter), Colorado Civil Claims: Elements, Defenses, and Sample Pleadings (with co-author Diane S. King) (2019 ed.)
- Sinking the the Unpaid Externship: How Many Unpaid Externships Violate the Fair Labor Standards Act and Yield Exceptionally Broad Joint Liability, Chicago-Kent College of Law Institute for Law and the Workplace (2013)
- First Place, Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition in Employment and Labor Law, 2013
- Cited in the law school textbook Marion G. Crain et al, Work Law: Cases and Materials (3d ed., 2015)
Selected Recent Lectures and Presentations:
- Nieto v. Clark’s Market: Vacation Pay in the Post “Use It or Lose It” Era, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association 2022 Blockbuster (February 24, 2022) (speaker)
- Thinking Creatively about Scheduling Orders and CMOs: Common Traps and Out-of-the-Box Ideas, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association 2021 Blockbuster (January 29, 2021) (speaker)
- Helpful Things to Include in Scheduling Orders, Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association (August 27, 2020)
- The Dystopian Future: Employment Claims Post-Pandemic, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (April 23, 2020) (panelist)
- Deadlines and Administrative Exhaustion, Annual National Convention, National Employment Lawyers Association (June 29, 2018) (moderator/speaker)
- Materials from this presentation have been re-produced extensively by other attorneys with Mr. Swain’s permission.
- Money for Impact: Managing Your Affiliate’s Budget, Membership Dues & Strategic Expenditures, National Employment Lawyers Association Affiliate Leadership Workshop (June 27, 2018) (moderator/speaker)
Professional Associations:
- Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association (PELA)
- National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)
- Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA)
- Faculty of Federal Advocates (FFA)
- Colorado Bar Association – Labor & Employment Law Section
- Colorado Bar Association – Civil Rights Section
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Colorado Hispanic Bar Association (CHBA)
- Lawyers Civil Rights Coalition (LCRC)
Bar Admissions:
- Colorado (2013)
- New York (2014)
- United States District Court for the District of Colorado (2014)
- Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (2017)