Joanne Geha Swanson

Joanne provides strong, rigorous advocacy to clients who must either enforce or defend their rights through litigation. In addition, she counsels clients on how to avoid litigation and resolve disputes without turning to the courts in the first place.

Her civil litigation practice primarily involves complex commercial disputes, antitrust, class actions, business torts, legal malpractice and other related matters.

Joanne also devotes a significant percentage of her professional time to state and federal appellate practice involving issues across the spectrum of subject areas, including insurance disputes, constitutional challenges, questions of statutory interpretation, business torts, commercial disputes, medical and legal malpractice, real estate disputes, and civil procedural questions.

Joanne is an active thought leader who has authored numerous published articles related to her areas of practice, and she has lectured on topics related to litigation and the appeals process. She contributed the Michigan chapter to the Practitioner’s Guide to Class Actions, 2nd edition from the ABA’s Tort Insurance and Trial Practice Section. She also served on the editorial board for the book. Swanson wrote the Michigan chapter and served on the editorial board for the first edition, as well.

Joanne is the Past Chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Antitrust, Franchise & Trade Regulation Section.  She is a current Council Member of the Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of Michigan and President of the Detroit Bar Association Board of Directors. She chairs the editorial board of the Detroit Bar Association’s Detroit Lawyer magazine. Joanne is chair of the Appellate Practice Section Annual Meeting (State Bar NEXT Conference, Cobo). She moderated the Annual Meeting program that was sponsored by the Appellate Practice Section.

Joanne is repeatedly listed in The Best Lawyers in America®; is a Corporate Counsel Magazine “Super Lawyer”; and “Top Lawyer” in DBusiness Magazine. She has been ranked as a “Michigan Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters, for 15 years, and also received the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Distinguished Brief Award. She was named a 2017 Super Lawyer in Civil Litigation Defense (named every year since 2006), and is a Best Lawyers^® award recipient in Appellate Practice and Litigation-Antitrust for the past 10 years. She also received the Best Lawyers^® Litigation – Antitrust “Lawyer of the Year” for Detroit in 2015, 2018, and 2020. Only a single lawyer in each practice area and community is honored with a “Lawyer of the Year” award. She was also named a 2017 DBusiness Magazine “Top Lawyer”: Appellate, Litigation – Antitrust (5th consecutive year; 6th overall recognition). She is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Joanne is a fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation and the Detroit Bar Association Foundation. She was recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business as one of their Notable Women Lawyers in Michigan – 2017 and among the 2020 Class of Women in the Law by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Articles

• “From The Chair,” Michigan Appellate Practice Journal (Spring 2018)
• “From The Chair,” Michigan Appellate Practice Journal (Fall 2017)