Swain Wood, formerly the first assistant attorney general of North Carolina and general counsel to Attorney General Josh Stein, serves as co-chair of the firm’s State Attorneys General Practice. While serving in government, he was one of the most highly regarded leaders in the state attorney general community nationally and is a proven problem-solver in private practice, working closely with clients to successfully anticipate, navigate and resolve complex legal disputes.

Mr. Wood advises companies facing public controversies in multiple arenas, such as when state attorneys general and other state regulators launch investigations, apart from or alongside Congress and federal agencies. In both the public and private sectors, Mr. Wood has litigated across multiple jurisdictions and has overseen highly publicized corporate and white collar investigations. His extensive policy and litigation experience gives him a deep understanding of how government agencies and actors approach issues and critical insight into the regulatory frameworks that govern multiple industries.

During his government service, he supervised the legal operations of the North Carolina Department of Justice, including the Civil and Criminal Bureaus, the Solicitor General’s Office and the Consumer Protection Division. Mr. Wood played a central role in constructing and negotiating the national opioid settlements, serving as leader of the multi-state negotiating team in years-long settlement discussions with multiple Fortune 50 pharmaceutical companies and thousands of local governments. Those settlements created crisis abatement funds totaling more than $50 billion, brought industry-changing injunctive relief to the pharmaceutical industry, and helped resolve the “massive and massively complex” opioid pharmaceutical liability litigation, which the New York Times has called “one of the most complicated and gargantuan legal battles in American history.” He also directed North Carolina’s investigation and litigation against a leading e-cigarette maker, resulting in a $40 million consent order. He also negotiated a $1.1 billion coal ash clean-up settlement with a leading energy company. 

After his government service, he returned to private practice for a firm based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, where he chaired its political and government disputes team. He previously served in the Georgia Attorney General’s Office under Attorney General Thurbert Baker.