John Swartz graduated Penn State University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Social Science.  In 1991, he graduated from Widener University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate.  Following law school, John worked at a law firm handling general civil litigation before becoming in-house counsel at The PMA Group handling workers' compensation cases and personal injury defense.  John later joined Kemper as in-house counsel litigating workers' compensation cases and general liability cases and worked there from 1996 until 2003, before working for Wagenfeld Levine in Philadelphia.

John returned to working in Harrisburg when he joined Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin in December 2004, concentrating in workers' compensation cases.