David Patrick Rowe (May 8, 1959 – January 12, 2018) was a Jamaican-American lawyer, professor, media commentator, corruption watchdog, Commonwealth Caribbean country risk analyst and pioneer in the area of transnational law. He has spent most of his career as a litigator in Florida, along with serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law since 1989. He is one of the world's leading voices on the law of the Commonwealth Caribbean and the political economy of the wider Caribbean region, and his scholarly work and quotations have appeared in periodicals around the world. He is also frequently used as a media consultant with international publications, including the Miami Herald and The New York Times , among others.
Early life
Rowe was born to Ira DeCordova Rowe, the president of the Courts of Appeal of Jamaica and Belize, along with a member of the Court of Appeal of Belize and of the Bahamas. Rowe's mother, Audrey Stewart, was a sister tutor at the Nursing School of the University of the West Indies. Rowe attended the Wolmer's School in Kingston, where he was awarded the Sydney McDonald Award upon graduation.
Education
In 1977, Rowe received the Exhibition Scholarship of Law from the University of the West Indies. He received his LLB from the University of the West Indies (UWI) at Cave Hill, Barbados, in 1980, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law in 1982. He was also a Rhodes Scholarship finalist for Jamaica in 1980 and 1981. While at UWI, he was active in Amnesty International adoption group.
Career
Rowe is a member of the Florida Bar and the Jamaica Bar. He began his career as an associate at the law firm Greenberg Traurig in Miami, from 1982 to 1984, until he was hired by Holland & Knight. At Greenberg, he worked with former US Ambassador Ambler Moss and former Florida Governor Reubin Askew. Rowe worked for Holland & Knight from 1984 to 1990, becoming a capital partner in 1988. At Holland, he worked with Chesterfield Smith, the former president of the American Bar Association, and Bill McBride. In 1991, he opened the law firm of David Rowe, P.A. Rowe has had success in federal and state court. He obtained acquittals in notable federal cases such as United States v. Joel Powell and United States v. Hargitay, along with state cases such as State of Florida v. Lucille Sapp and State of Florida v. Sean Perry. Rowe's expertise has seen him called as a witness to testify on the country conditions in Jamaica in several political asylum cases. He was the first chairman of the American Bar Association Caribbean Law Committee. He testified as an expert in United States federal practice in the case of Dabdoub v. Vaz, the historic dual-citizenship case in the Jamaica Supreme Court.
Rowe's first major criminal trial in US federal court was the landmark four-week trial of Nigel Bowe before Judge Lawrence King. Rowe used the Specialty Rule to dismiss 14 of the 15 charges. Bowe served eight years in federal detention, far fewer than the life sentences requested by federal prosecutors.
In 2011 Rowe represented Jamaican entertainer Moses Davis (Beenie Man) after Davis's visa was canceled by the United States Consulate in Jamaica. The visa was restored and Beenie Man issued a press release thanking Rowe on July 27, 2011.
Rowe has been relied upon in US federal court as an expert witness on Jamaican political and legal issues by attorneys representing clients facing Removal. Rowe has also been an attorney of choice for Jamaican entertainers with US immigration issues.
In November 2013, the Jamaican-American Bar Association recognized Rowe as an "elder statesman" of the Jamaican legal community in the United States and for being a "singular pioneer" for the trans-Caribbean practice.
In December 2013, Rowe was recognized by a group of leading Jamaican attorneys for his 30th year of membership at the Florida Bar, as reported in the Jamaica Observer
At the end of 2013, Rowe spearheaded the launch of a program distributing computer tablets to underprivileged youths in the Whitfield Town area of Kingston, as a tribute to his father's humble origins and academic excellence; "There is no reason why Kingston cannot be a hub of technological development", he said. Rowe was commended by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation for his community efforts.
In early 2014, Rowe received a special award for commitment from the board of directors of Temple Beth Ami of Boca Raton, Florida.
In 2014, Rowe was the lead defense lawyer in a prominent Florida first-degree murder case involving a "stand your ground" motion.