Mr. Carrow, who maintains law offices in San Francisco and San Rafael, California, and is a member of barrister chambers in London, is one of very few lawyers who are dually licensed to practice before the courts of both jurisdictions.

Mr. Carrow's civil law practice is limited to substantial claims and disputes. Specific areas of Mr. Carrow's trial practice, involving business, commercial, construction, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death matters, are discussed elsewhere on this site. This page addresses the remainder of the "civil law" aspects of Mr. Carrow's practice. As will become apparent, the considerable breath and scope of the "civil law" is such that the term does not lend itself to easy definition.

Civil law "is that body of law which every particular nation, commonwealth or city has established particularly for itself; more particularly called 'municipal' law, to distinguish it from the 'law of nature,' and from the international law. Civil laws are laws concerned with civil or private rights and remedies, as contrasted with the criminal laws and criminal liabilities." For a practical matter, the distinction is not nearly so difficult as some have attempted to make it. With the exception of several "special proceedings" such as contempt, which are considered "quasi-criminal" in nature, the only distinction in the law recognized by most lawyers and courts is between criminal and civil actions. A civil action is prosecuted by one person against another, before an administrative body or a court, for the declaration, enforcement or protection of a right, or the redress or prevention of a wrong. A proceeding by which a person charged with a public offense is accused and brought to trial and punishment is known as a criminal action. Thus, it is easy to distinguish a civil from a criminal proceeding. If the plaintiff in the proceeding is "the People," you are undoubtedly dealing with a criminal action. Virtually all other actions are "civil actions."

The number of categories of law encompassed within the term "civil law" is almost endless. One surfing the web, will come across web sites offering attorney services and, more often than not, the entries are broken down by category, since most lawyers concede that they are not qualified too practice in all. At a minimum, there are at least sixty categories of civil law, everything from admiralty to workers' compensation. This is exclusive of the sub categories within those categories.

Mr. Carrow places his primary emphasis on the civil law categories mentioned above, i.e., commercial, business, and construction litigation, personal injury, defense of white collar crime and wrongful death. Parenthetically, provision of consultation and expert witness testimony on the laws of Britain and the United States would not, in itself, be considered a category of law. It is more the business of explaining the state and meaning of the law.

"Civil litigation and arbitration" is included in Mr. Carrow's categories of services merely to keep the door open to allow him to take on any civil case to which he may take a fancy, and which he believes he is qualified to handle. In truth, given reasonable time to prepare, and assuming an interest, a qualified litigator should be able to litigate most any case since, ordinarily, the legal issues are narrow and focused. Oftentimes attorneys will forego involvement in a case which falls within a category with which he or she is unfamiliar because of the cost to the client of the lawyer educating himself or herself in the subject area and, quite candidly, the lawyer's exposure to a legal malpractice claim if he or she does not meet the standard of care established by the profession. From the client's standpoint, it is less expensive, and a favorable result is probably more predictable, if the attorney has already had considerable experience in the subject category.

Some of the categories in which Mr. Carrow has involved himself over the years, each of which he has litigated, but upon which he does not place his primary emphasis, include: medical and legal malpractice, civil rights, family law, juvenile law, foreclosure, landlord-tenant, insurance, real estate and probate. The question of whether Mr. Carrow chooses to become involved in these, and other areas of civil law, are resolved by him on a case by case basis. It is sometimes determined that the most cost-effective manner of handling a matter outside of Mr. Carrow's primary areas of interest requires involvement of counsel versed in the law of a particular subject whose assistance Mr. Carrow will call upon in performing his primary task, i.e., negotiating a disposition of, or litigating, the matter at issue. Mr. Carrow has excluded certain areas of civil law from his practice for all purposes. Should the prospective client seek Mr. Carrow's assistance in those areas of law, he or she will be informed in the event the issue presented falls outside Mr. Carrow's chosen scope of practice.

Recognizing the ever expanding cost of civil litigation, Mr. Carrow has been increasingly active in the Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") process. In addition to his experience as an advocate involved in the ADR process, Mr. Carrow has acted as a mediation advocate and mediator, arbitration advocate and arbitrator, court appointed settlement conference panelist and has served as a temporary trial judge of the Superior Court of California, which is the equivalent of the English High Court, i.e., the highest trial court in California.

Questions directed to Mr. Carrow's qualifications may be addressed to him by e-mail, regular mail, telephone or personal interview. Personal, telephone or video conferences, addressing either British or American law, are available in San Francisco, San Rafael or London.  The initial personal, telephonic or email interview is without charge and can be arranged by email directed to Mr. Carrow by clicking on the community of your choice: San Francisco,  Marin County, or London. References, a listing of representative clients who have allowed use of their names, and the identity of certain of the more interesting civil matters with which Mr. Carrow has been involved are available upon request by prospective clients.