SARAHJANE "SJ" SWANSON
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Education and Experience
Sarahjane "SJ" Davidson Swanson earned a B.S. in liberal arts from the University of Houston-Downtown, then graduated cum laude from South Texas College of Law Houston. While at STCL, she was admitted to Phi Delta Phi international legal honors fraternity's Wood Inn, and earned the Dean's award for contributions to legal journalism for her work on the law school newspaper, Annotations. She also studied comparative law for a semester at The College of England and Wales in London.
Before law school, SJ spent fifteen years in the energy business, holding management positions with two major Houston Fortune 50 energy companies in their gas pipeline transportation and marketing, and U.S. and international asset management and project development divisions. Among other projectss, SJ was part of the development and asset management teams for several new cogeneration power plant construction and operations in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Pakistan.
Before forming the Swanson Law Firm in 2010, SJ was a partner with Irelan Hargis, P.L.L.C., and an associate with Hargis & Harpold, L.L.P.
She is licensed by the Supreme Court of Texas and admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of Texas.
Professional and Community Involvement
In 2013, SJ was appointed by the President of the State Bar of Texas to serve a six-year term as one of the six attorneys on the Texas Real Estate Commission’s Broker-Lawyer Committee. In 2019, she was appointed to a second term. The committee is responsible for the promulgated real estate contract forms available to Texas real estate licensees and the public.
SJ is a graduate Leadership America's Class of 2014, the year-long preeminent national women’s development program. She is a past president of the 13,000+ member South Texas College of Law Alumni Association, and previously served as a two-term director and VP.
She is a member of the Houston, Texas, and American Bar Associations and the American Bar Association’s litigation section. She is a charter council member of the Phi Delta Phi Houston Barrister Inn, is a member of the Association of Women Attorneys-Houston, and a former trustee of AWA's foundation.
SJ is a member of the Houston Realty Business Coalition and CREW Houston (Commercial Real Estate Women) and has previously served as CREW's programs co-chair.
She is the 2020-2021 President of the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club. She is also a member of Village Republican Women Club and the Texas Asian Republican Club.
SJ currently serves on the Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star Advisory Board (formerly known as BBBS of Greater Houston), and was previously the corporate secretary and a director of the Houston predecessor organization. She was matched as a mentor “Big Sister” through BBBS’s community-based program for many years. SJ served as a judge for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's Public Speaking Contest for several years.
Civil Litigation and Disputes
Real Estate Transactions
Business Transactions
Honors
Published Appellate
Decisions
American First National Bank v. Jordan-Lewis Development, L.P., Westbound Bank, and Bob Karim & Associates, L.P., No. 01-09-00990-CV, 2011 WL 2732779 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] July 14, 2011, no pet.) (upheld the 157th Civil District Court's declaratory judgment in case tried and won for clients Jordan-Lewis Development & Westbound Bank in May 2009, releasing a wrongfully-asserted lien by local Chinese-American bank against client's commercial property, and upheld the clients' $159k attorneys' fee award)
Frank’s International, Inc. v. Smith International, Inc., 249 S.W.3d 557 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2008, no pet.)(breach of international tool rental contract; successful appeal of trial court’s summary judgment for plaintiff)
Presentations
The B-Word and Being Respected panel presentation with Hon. Bonnie Crane Hellums, Hon. Sharon McCally, Sarah Utley, and Maida Asofsky to the Women’s Law Society, South Texas College of Law/Houston, October 2013
Representing Brokers When Deals Go Bad CLE presentation and white paper - South Texas College of Law/Houston's 28th Annual Real Estate Law Conference, June 2013
Property Tax Lien Foreclosures CLE presentation and white paper - National Business Institute, audio webcast, February 2013
Brokerage & Management Contracts & Claims CLE presentation and white paper - TexasBarCLE/State Bar of Texas 34th Annual Advanced Real Estate Law Course, San Antonio, July 2012.
American Bar Association Law Student Division Fall Regional Leadership Summit - Lunch With Experience, panel discussion, October 2010.
Resolving Tax Lien Issues and Understanding Tax Lien Foreclosures, Half-Moon Seminars CLE program, contributing author to white paper with Bradford W. Irelan, August 2009.
Title Claims 2009, Old Republic National Title Company Agency Seminar, contributing author to white paper with Bradford W. Irelan, April 2009.
View From Outside – The Claims Handling Process From the Perspective of Outside Counsel, presentation to Fidelity National Title Insurance in-house claims counsel with Bradford W. Irelan, February 2009.
The Role of Lawyers in the Commercial Real Estate Industry, CREW Careers Program, presented by Commercial Real Estate Women Houston, presenter on the role of lawyers in the real estate industry, 2006 and 2007.
What They Don’t Teach You in Law School, panel presentation with Grant P. Harpold, Jaime E. Rocha, Andy Townend, and the Hon. Jennifer Walker Elrod, South Texas College of Law, October 2006.
The Importance of Jury Service and Law as a Career, Houston Bar Association Speakers Bureau presentations at Houston-area high schools and middle schools, various dates in 2004-2008.
Copyright 2010-2020 Swanson Law Firm, PLLC. All rights reserved.
Our firm represents clients in communities throughout the state of Texas. This includes Houston, Galveston, Pasadena, Sugar Land, Richmond, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Austin, Conroe, Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, San Marcos, Victoria, Wharton, El Campo, Goliad, and in Harris County, Fort Bend County, Montgomery County, Brazoria County, Chambers County, Jefferson County, Orange County, San Jacinto County, Liberty County, Livingston County, Wharton County, Matagorda County, Aransas County, Calhoun County, Nueces County, Cameron County, Goliad County, Hays County, Bexar County, DeWitt County, San Patricio County, Tarrant County, Dallas County, McMullen County, Live Oak County, Victoria County, Zavala County and elsewhere in the State.