Peter McGowan is an Australian lawyer and barrister based in Perth, Western Australia. He was admitted to the Western Australian bar in 1975, worked as a partner in Mallesons Stephen Jaques, and returned to the Bar in 2005 after joining it in 1997.
Background
Peter McGowan's documented formation lies in Western Australian legal training. He studied law at the University of Western Australia, where he completed an honours Bachelor of Laws, and was admitted to practice in Western Australia in 1975.
The University of Western Australia was established in Perth in 1911 as the first university in the state. Its law degree prepared graduates for admission to practice in the state's courts and for work in the Perth legal profession.
Education
McGowan studied law at the University of Western Australia, which was founded in Perth in 1911 as the first university in Western Australia. Its law programme served the state's legal profession during the decades when Western Australia's commercial and legal institutions were expanding.
He was admitted to the Western Australian bar in 1975, marking the transition from university study to professional legal practice in Perth.
Career
McGowan was admitted to the Western Australian bar in 1975. He subsequently became a partner in Mallesons Stephen Jaques, a firm whose origins lie in Western Australia. Mallesons Stephen Jaques traces its beginnings to 1832, when Alfred Stone, regarded as Western Australia's first solicitor, established a legal practice in Perth. The Perth practice later became Stone James, which merged in 1982 with the Sydney-based Stephen Jaques & Stephen. The combined firm joined the Melbourne firm Mallesons in 1987, when the name Mallesons Stephen Jaques was adopted; the firm was then counted among the "Big Six" Australian law firms.
McGowan left the partnership before joining the Bar in 1997. As a barrister, he practises in commercial litigation, with particular emphasis on planning and development, local government, and land resumption and compensation claims under Western Australian planning and land administration legislation. His chambers profile states that he has appeared as counsel in hundreds of trials and hearings in the Supreme Court, Federal Court, District Court and State Administrative Tribunal.
He returned to the Bar in 2005 and has continued to practise from Francis Burt Chambers in Perth, where his work combines the experience of a former firm partner with the advocacy skills of an established courtroom barrister.
Membership
McGowan was elected to the Western Australian Bar Association in 2004. The association is the professional body for barristers practising in Western Australia, representing their interests and maintaining standards of practice at the state bar.
