1936-2015
Richmond, Virginia
Founding Member/Partner
Frank Cowan was a founding member and Chairman of the CowanGates law firm. He had extensive trial and litigation experience, including personal injury, criminal, civil, and commercial litigation, zoning, land use, insurance defense and family law. Mr. Cowan was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been recognized in the following publications: “The Best Lawyers in America”; “Virginia Business Legal Elite”; and Virginia Super Lawyers”. He was a mediator and arbitrator and served in over 400 mediations and arbitrations. He has been appointed as Commissioner in Chancery for Chesterfield County, Virginia.
Mr. Cowan was a native of Danville, Virginia, a graduate of Virginia Tech and the University of Richmond, T.C. Williams School of Law, where he was a member of the McNeil Law Honor Society. He was an avid supporter of Virginia Tech and served on the Board of the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund. He was a member of Virginia Tech’s Ut Prosim Society, which is one of four giving societies at Virginia Tech. The society’s name is Latin for “That I May Serve,” which is also the university motto.
Mr. Cowan served on the Board of the Central Virginia Chapter of the National MS Society and previously served on the Board of the Midlothian YMCA and on the Planning Commission of Chesterfield County, Virginia. He also served two terms as President of Salisbury Country Club where he was a member and an avid golfer. He volunteered regularly as an “Eager Beaver Reader” at a Richmond Elementary School.
- Areas of Practice:
- Civil Litigation
- Criminal Litigation
- Commercial Litigation
- Family Law
- Insurance Law
- Personal Injury
- Arbitration
- Mediation
- Bar Admissions:
- Virginia, 1962
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Virginia
- U.S. District Court Western District of Virginia
- U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia
- B.S.
- Honors and Awards:
- 2015 Recipient of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorney’s Award for Excellence in Civil Litigation
- Recognized in “Best Lawyers in America,” 1989 – Present
- Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
- Virginia Business Magazine – Legal Elite, 2002 – 2006 and 2008 – 2013
- Virginia Super Lawyers, 2006 – Present (Alternative Dispute Resolution)
- Listed in the 21st and 22nd Editions of The Best Lawyers in America© in the practice area of Personal
- Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs (2015 & 2016)
- Member, National Association of Distinguished Counsel – Nation’s Top One Percent
