It is with great sadness we report the untimely passing of Rowan Planterose, of this Society and a past President and long-time officer on 27 October 2024 after a trying illness. Rowan was a well-known and very highly regarded construction and engineering barrister. He will be remembered for his dedication to his clients and to the field of Arbitration Law.
Rowan was a tenant of 3 Paper Buildings (“3PB”) and a highly valued member of Chambers, and its London office, and was greatly respected by the barristers in his set and far beyond. He made an immense contribution to the SCA (with the support of his wife Julia) and his untimely death will be a real loss to SCA and the legal community. Our thoughts and prayers are with Julia and his family, as well as his many friends, at this exceptionally difficult time.
Rowan read law at Downing College, Cambridge - had over 45 years’ experience as a barrister and more than 20 years as a solicitor. He joined 3PB after a long career with DAC Beachcroft and one of its predecessor firms Davies Arnold Cooper (DAC). Rowan sat as an arbitrator and adjudicator, mediator, expert or dispute board member. Much of his work came from his panel appointments by RICS, TECSA, RIBA and party and chair appointments on LCIA and ICC arbitrations. He was particularly known for international arbitration work which included Investment Treaty arbitration and he was highly rated by Legal 500 as an expert in this field.
Rowan was also the co-author of "The Arbitration Act 1996: A Commentary" which is a leading textbook on the 1996 Arbitration Act and authored the adjudication section of Bernstein's “Handbook of Dispute Resolution”. A former President of the Society of Construction Arbitrators, Rowan also taught Arbitration Law for both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (where he was their exam board chief) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as well as being an honorary member and regular speaker at ARBRIX (which represents members of the RICS President’s panels of arbitrators and adjudicators). Outside of this busy work life, Rowan's loves were his family and spending time on his hobbies of model railways and steam trains.