Robert D. Carrow is one of very few lawyers who are dually licensed to practice as a barrister in England and as an attorney in the United States. Mr. Carrow is an experienced and well recognized litigator who divides his practice between San Francisco and San Rafael, California, where he maintains offices as an attorney, and London, where he practices from chambers as an English barrister.

Mr. Carrow's practice includes commercial claims of a substantial nature.One would think that "Commercial Law" would include all law that, by definition, involves commerce. Lest the reader be confused, it does not. If all commerce related law were encompassed by that term, there would be very little law remaining. Even torts and criminal law often involve commerce, directly or indirectly . To make matters even more confusing, certain areas of law generally treated as falling within the ambit of "commercial law," arguably do not, e.g., intellectual property law, information technology & multimedia law, tax law and media law, to mention but a few. For purposes of this page, "commercial law" is defined to encompass substantial matters affecting credit, debt collection, bankruptcy and the Uniform Commercial Code, including creditors' rights, mortgage foreclosure, banking law, development financing, and contracts for the sale of goods.

Having defined the term, suffice it to say that Mr. Carrow's practice includes negotiation, arbitration and litigation of any of the commercial claims defined above with the exception of bankruptcy and tax related matters. The fee terms of Mr. Carrow's representation on commercial, or commercially related matters, whether on an hourly or contingent fee basis, are negotiated on a case by base basis.

Recognizing the ever expanding cost of civil litigation, including commercial litigation, Mr. Carrow has been increasingly active in the Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") process as it applies to business, including commercial claims. His ADR efforts have included negotiation, mediation and arbitration. In addition to his experience as an advocate involved in the ADR process, Mr. Carrow has acted as a private arbitrator and as a settlement conference and trial pro tempore judge for the Superior Court of California.

On occasion, the facts surrounding the commercial dispute involve charges of fraud and deceit, or other wrongful acts, of a criminal nature. Mr. Carrow has had considerable and successful experience in defending against such allegations. He limits his criminal defense involvement, however, to matters which qualify in a general sense as "white collar crime."

Mr. Carrow's expertise, and his qualification to attend to the commercial matters discussed above is evidenced by the fact that he has maintained Martindale-Hubbell's highest rating (AV) since 1979. Approximately eleven percent of the United States bar is honored with an AV rating.

Born in Marshall, Minnesota, Mr. Carrow attended the University of Colorado, the University of Minnesota, from which he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, and the University of Minnesota Law School, where he served on the Board of Editors of the Minnesota Law Review. He transferred to Stanford University Law School for his last year of study and was awarded a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from that institution in 1958.

In 1981 Mr. Carrow was honored by being called to the English bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court.

Mr. Carrow has, for a number of years, served as a judge pro tempore of the California Superior Courts and has presided as judge over more than twenty trials. He has, in the past, been designated as a consultant to the litigation and criminal law sections of the State Bar of California and was a program speaker at the 1995 State Bar of California annual convention.

Further biographical information relating to Mr. Carrow is available inter alia, on his web site, in Who's Who in American Law and in Who's Who in the World.