ERIK SWANSON
As a bilingual business attorney, Erik serves clients with day-to-day business and legal needs in English and Spanish, guiding them through formation, fundraising, growth, mergers, acquisitions, and exits.
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Erik Swanson is a bilingual business attorney who counsels private emerging and growth-stage companies on corporate, finance, and securities issues in both Spanish and English. He focuses on pre-formation planning, entity formation, securities compliance, corporate governance, leasing and contractual issues, distribution agreements, and general day-to-day business advice.
Erik lived in Guatemala for over 5 years where he ran a successful consumer goods wholesale company and spearheaded a rapid growth transition into the retail sector. He managed over 100 employees and opened 7 new retail points of sale. He worked closely with the Human Resources and IT departments to build out personnel and IT infrastructure to attain business efficiencies and improve profitability. During his time in Guatemala Erik also advised local law firms and banks in US business transactions, and taught U.S. Business Law at a leading law school.
Passionate about education and sustainable development, Erik founded Roots & Wings International, a non-profit that promotes community development in rural Guatemala through access to education and development programs. The organization provides dozens of university scholarships, after-school tutoring to hundreds of school-aged children, purified water to 6 communities, and micro-lending to dozens of micro-enterprises for the purpose of promoting local economic development.
His language skills and multicultural business and nonprofit experience give Erik a unique perspective in counseling clients in transactions and business activities that require creative solutions.
- Recipient, “Peter M. Cicchino Award” for outstanding advocacy in the public interest (2009)
- Recipient, “Premio Inspiracion Award” for exceptional commitment to the Latino/a community (2009)
- Board Member, Starve Ups (2019 – Present)
- Board Member, North Wall Schools (2010 – Present)
- Member, Oregon Hispanic Bar Association
- Member, OGALLA: The LGBT Law Association of Oregon
- President of the Board, Raíces y Alas Guatemala (2008 − present)
- President of the Board, Roots & Wings International (2006 – present)
- Judicial Intern to the Honorable Henry H. Kennedy, Jr., United States District Court, in Washington, D.C. (2008)
- Legal Researcher, Myrna Mack Foundation (2007)
- Mentor, REACH Ministries for children with HIV (2000 – 2003)
- Oregon State Courts
- American University, Washington College of Law – J.D., cum laude, 2009
- University of Puget Sound – B.A. in Business and Public Administration, 2003