Experience Driven. Forward Thinking.

At Hoogendoorn & Talbot, Al Swanson handles complex civil litigation and zoning matters for corporations and businesses in their dealings with units of local government. Al brings more than 35 years of legal experience to the firm.

After a career as an NBC radio news reporter, Al began practicing law in 1982. He was first an Assistant Illinois Attorney General working in the Consumer Fraud and Charitable Trust divisions. In 1985, Al went into private practice.

From 2010 to 2014, Al left private practice to serve as a Judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County. For most of that time, he heard mortgage foreclosure cases in the Chancery Division. He also served in traffic court and in the eviction and non-jury contract and tort sections. Al is chair-qualified as an Arbitrator in the Circuit Court of Cook County’s Mandatory Arbitration program. He also serves as a solo Arbitrator in the Circuit Court’s Law Division Commercial Calendar Arbitration program.

In private practice, Al handled injury defense (premises liability, motor vehicle collisions, bodily injury) and other civil litigation (toxic tort, asbestos cases, both property damage and bodily injury). Al has also handled cases involving patent infringement and class action defenses as local counsel.

Al is recognized for his civic and charitable work and his service to the legal profession. From 1997-2007, he served as Trustee in the Village of River Forest. Al is involved with the Chicago Bar Association where he serves on the Legislative Committee and formerly as Chair of the Judiciary and the Solo and Small Firm committees. He has served the Illinois State Bar Association as a member of the Bench & Bar Section Council and editor of the Section’s newsletter for 19 years; he is a former member of the Assembly and Editor-in-Chief of the Illinois Bar Journal. He is currently a member of the Bar Journal Editorial Board. Al is a member of the American Bar Association and the Association’s Judicial Division. He has been on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Judges Association and of the Nordic Law Club, and is a past president of the club. Al was formerly a facilitator for the Illinois Supreme Court’s Mandatory Judicial Evaluation Program, where he met with assigned judges to assist them with the program’s purpose of achieving excellence in the performance of individual judges and the improvement of the judiciary as a whole.