Donald L. Swanson

Donald L. Swanson is a shareholder with Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O. in Omaha, Neb., and has been practicing bankruptcy law since 1980. He grew up on a livestock farm in Nebraska’s Sandhills, became Nebraska State FFA President (1993-94), and achieved FFA’s “American Farmer Degree.” During the 1980s farm crisis, Mr. Swanson represented debtors in more than 40 chapter 12 cases, achieving a confirmed plan and discharge in all but one. In Delaware’s $1.5 billion ethanol bankruptcy (In re VeraSun), he held an ex officio seat on the creditors’ committee as counsel for the ad hoc committee of grain suppliers. Mr. Swanson is a subchapter V trustee in the District of Nebraska and served on ABI’s Subchapter V Task Force and on leadership teams for ABI’s Mediation and Legislation Committees, and he was recognized as a “Committee Leader of the Year.” He publishes a blog at https://mediatbankry.com, is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification, and is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. At the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), Mr. Swanson served on the Drafting Committee for the Uniform Assignment for Benefit of Creditors Act, which the ULC formally approved in 2025 and is under consideration at various state legislatures — and has been enacted in Nebraska. He has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, and he has served on boards for Legal Aid of Nebraska (providing free legal services to low-income Nebraskans) and Global Partners in Hope, which provides clean drinking water and medical centers in West Africa. Mr. Swanson received his A.A. from Grace University in 1976, his B.S. in political science from the University of Nebraska - Omaha in 1977, and his J.D. from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 1980, where he was an associate editor of the Nebraska Law Review.