Ive Arlington Swan was born on St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands.
All of his formative years were spent on St. Thomas, where he attended
public school at the Leonard Dober Elementary School, the Commandant Gade
School and the Charlotte Amalie High School, from which he graduated in 1963.
Swan continued his education by matriculating in Morgan State University from
which he graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. He entered Howard University's School of Law
in 1967, from which he graduated in 1970 with a Juris Doctorate Degree. His legal Education also includes the
completion of numerous courses for judges during 1987 to 2006 with the National Judicial College at the University
of Nevada in Reno. Additionally,
he has taken several judicial courses
with the American Academy of Judicial Education.
Swan
holds bar membership in the Washington, D.C. Bar Association (November 23,
1970) and the Virgin Islands Bar Association (February 8, 1971). He is an active member of the American Bar
Association, the National Bar Association, the American Judges Association and
the Society of Attorney Generals Emeritus (SAGE).
Swan
has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, The United States Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, The United States District Court for the
District of Columbia, and all the Courts of the United States Virgin Islands.
Swan
commenced his legal career in August 1970, with the Virgin Islands Department
of Law, (now the Virgin Islands Department of Justice.) During his ten-year tenure at the Department
of Law, he held the positions of Legal Intern, Deputy Assistant Attorney
General and Assistant Attorney General in both the Criminal and Family Law
Division and the Civil and Administrative Law Division.
In
January 1978, Swan was nominated by Governor Juan Luis for the position of
Attorney General of the Virgin Islands. On March 3, 1978, he became the
Attorney General of the Virgin Islands, a position he held for approximately
three (3) years. As Attorney General,
Swan managed and supervised the operations of the Department of Law, the legal
branch of the Government of the Virgin Islands. He similarly directed the legal business and legal affairs of the
Government of the Virgin Islands, including litigation in which the Government,
its departments and its agencies appeared as parties. He likewise served on several government boards and commissions. Swan also published several attorney
generals' opinions on a myriad of legal issues.
In
1981, Swan entered the private practice of law and operated his law offices
until July 1987. His private practice
included matters and litigation on Corporation Law, Family Law, Probate Law, Real
Estate Law, Labor Law and Criminal and Civil, Jury and non-jury, cases. Additionally, Swan served as a labor
arbitrator, adjudicating labor disputes and grievances, while conducting his
legal practice.
In
1987, Swan was nominated and re-nominated in 1993 by the late Governor
Alexander A. Farrelly to be a judge on the Territorial Court of the Virgin
Islands. In 2000, Swan was nominated by
Governor Charles W. Turnbull to be a judge of the Territorial Court and
re-nominated in 2006 to be a judge of the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.
During his more than nineteen (19) years on the Superior Court and Territorial
Court, he has presided over all types of cases cognizable by a court of general
jurisdiction. During his judicial
career, he has served a total of three and one-half years in the Family Court.
In
July 2006, Governor Charles W. Turnbull nominated Swan for the position of
Associate Justice of the newly created Supreme Court of the Virgin
Islands. His nomination was confirmed
by the Twenty-Sixth Legislature of the Virgin Islands on October 27, 2006. It was the sixth time Swan has won unanimous
legislative confirmation; namely, 1978 Attorney General of the Virgin Islands;
1987, 1993, 2000, Judge of the Territorial Court; 2006 Judge of the Superior
Court; and 2006 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands.
Justice
Swan is married to Gertrude Niles Drue Swan, with whom he has shared more than
thirty years.
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