David J. Rowland

David J. Rowland is a co-founder of Rowland & Petroff and is its managing partner. Mr. Rowland specializes in international legal transactions including art recovery, German property claims, real estate, business transactions, wills, trusts and estates, litigation, and international law.

Mr. Rowland has represented claimants in several high profile art restitution cases, including the recovery of the “Watzmann” by Caspar David Friedrich and the restitution of the “Berlin Street Scene” by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. In addition, Mr. Rowland has worked in the area of German property restitution since 1990.

Mr. Rowland frequently lectures and contributes articles in the areas of German property claims and art restitution. He speaks fluent German and French.

Mr. Rowland also assists clients whose ancestors were deprived of their German citizenship on political, racial, or religious grounds between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945 to reclaim German citizenship.

Education

– Trinity College, B.A. 1978. New York Law School, J.D. 1983. Diploma in Advanced International Legal Studies, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, 1987.

Admitted

– New York State, 1984. U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, 1984.

Memberships

– American Bar Association, The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Bar Association, and the New York County Bar Association.

Publications

– “Nazi Looted Art Commissions” Kunst und Recht, Vol. 3/4, 2013;

– “Nazi-Era Art Claims in the United States: 10 Years After the Washington Conference” Art & Cultural Heritage Law Newsletter Spring 2009, Vol. I, Issue 5, pp. 30;

– “Have U.S. Museums Lived up to the Promise of the Washington Conference? The Case for the Mandatory Referral of Nazi-Era Art Claims to a Neutral Art Commission” in Verantwortung wahrnehmen-Taking Responsibility, Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste in Berlin, 2008, pp.157;

– “Reclaiming Property Along the Former Berlin Wall,” New York Law Journal, Vol. 216-No. 65, 1996;

– “Deadlines Affecting Property Claims in East Germany,” New York Law Journal, Vol 208 No. 121, 1992;

– “Compensation for Jewish Victims of the Nazi Regime,” New York Law Journal, Vol. 204-No. 104, 1992;

– “Deadline Looms for Filing East German Compensation Claims,” New York Law Journal, Vol. 204-No. 65, 1990.

– Co-author: with Dr. Eberhard Röhm, “Ausgleichsansprunch des Handelsvertretreters im U.S. – amerikanischen Recht,” Bundesnachrichten für Aussenhandel, No. 64, 1983.

– Restoration of German citizenship for Holocaust Victims and Descendants” New York Law Journal, Vol. 256 No. 60