Rowan White

Rowan White graduated with an honours degree in law from the University of Cambridge in 1974 and returned to Belfast to take up an apprenticeship with Crawford & Lockhart, Martin H. Turnbull & Co.

He remained with that firm after he was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in Northern Ireland in 1977 but moved to its affiliated practice in Ballymena, J.& A. Caruth & Bamber, in January 1979. Rowan returned to Belfast in September 1983 to join Norman Wilson & Co, becoming a partner in 1985.

Although that firm had by then been in existence for more than eighty years, he was, remarkably, only its third principal in all that time.

Rowan was instrumental in its merger with leading Irish law firm Arthur Cox in 1996 and was a partner in Arthur Cox’s Belfast practice from 1996 until April 2018, when he took up a consultancy role.

His practice covers all areas of commercial property, including acquisitions, disposals and leases for local, national and international clients, as well as property development, finance and corporate support work.

Over the years, he has been involved in many of the biggest and most complex property transactions in Northern Ireland. Rowan has been active in a number of professional bodies over the course of his career. He was Chairman of Antrim & Ballymena Solicitors’ Association in 1983 and of The Belfast Solicitors’ Association in 1991/92.

He was a founder member and the first Chair of The Northern Ireland Commercial Property Lawyers’ Association when it was established in 2006. Elected to the Council of the Law Society of Northern Ireland in November 2015, Rowan has chaired its Client Complaints and Education and Committees, as well as serving on numerous other committees and sub-committees.

He also serves as a nominee of the Society on the Council of Legal Education.