Stephen Swedlow

Stephen “The Father” Swedlow is a Chicago-based high-stakes cash-game player whose professional background extends well beyond poker. His televised poker appearances include High Stakes Poker, where he made his debut in Season 14.

Away from the table, Swedlow serves as a Cook County circuit judge in Illinois, with an assignment handling commercial cases. Before joining the bench, he was co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel’s Chicago office—a leadership role at a major litigation firm.

His legal career has included representing Qualcomm against Apple and serving as court-appointed lead counsel in antitrust litigation against Facebook. He also helped lead Affordable Care Act insurance-payment litigation that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, later discussing the case and his nationwide efforts to recruit clients on the Law, disrupted podcast.

Swedlow has described his move into public service as a deliberate decision to stop pursuing ever-higher financial targets after reaching his personal goal. Family also helped motivate the change: he wanted more time with his twin children and told Bloomberg Law in 2023 that he cooked their dinner most nights.