George Wright Swainston

George Wright Swainston was born on July 17, 1936, in Rexburg, Idaho, to George D. and Dorothy Wright Swainston. Raised across Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Nevada's Smith Valley, he graduated from Smith Valley High School in 1954 and earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Utah. He went on to graduate from the University of Denver Law School in 1967, having worked earlier as a truck driver and an insurance adjuster before entering the legal profession.

A longtime Reno resident, Mr. Swainston built a distinguished career at the Nevada bar. He practiced for five years with the law firm of Richard P. Wait and spent two years in private practice before founding his own partnership in 1974 with Roger Erickson and Don Thorpe. He was widely engaged in the profession as a member of the Washoe County and American Bar Associations, the State Bar of Nevada, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Defense Research Institute, the California Association of Defense Counsel, the Association of Defense Counsel of Nevada, the American Judicature Society and the American Arbitration Association.

Mr. Swainston died on January 29, 2007, at the age of 70. He was preceded in death by his wife, Diane Annette, in 1998, and is remembered for a career devoted to trial advocacy and service to the Nevada legal community.