Jonathan A. McGowan, esq.
BIO
He is particularly focused on legal development in the European Union and the United States.
Jon is a contributor for Forbes, where he provides analysis and commentary on legal developments relating to ESG, sustainability, and climate change. He has authored multiple legal journal articles and presented at international law conferences on the complexities of the laws relating to ESG/ sustainability and how they impact business. In 2020, he was appointed as a Fellow at the European Law Institute (ELI), in Vienna, Austria. In 2025, he was elected to a four-year term on the Council, the governing body of ELI.
Jon is the founder of The McGowan Law Firm in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
EDUCATION
- Florida State University College of Law, Juris Doctor
Certificate in Environmental, Natural Resources, and Land Use Law
University of Iowa College of Law, London Law Program
Oxford University, Summer Program in Law - University of Florida, Bachelor of Arts, Political Science
AFFILIATIONS
- European Law Institute
Council, 2025 – 2029
Membership Committee, 2025 – 2029
Fellow, 2020 – Present - The Federalist Society
- American Bar Association
Rule of Law Initiative, Liaison, 2022 – 2023
Standing Committee on Publishing Oversight, 2023 – 2026 - Jacksonville Bar Association
Interim Executive Director, 2025 – 2026
Government Relations Committee, Chair, 2022 – 2026 - The Florida Bar
Governmental and Public Policy Advocacy Committee, 2022 – 2027
Voluntary Bar Liaison Committee, 2026 - The First District Appellate American Inn of Court, 2019 – 2021
- National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, 2019 – 2021
PUBLIC SERVICE
- Jacksonville Housing Authority, 2019 – 2021
Chair, 2020 – 2021, Vice-Chair 2019 – 2020 - Duval County Elections Advisory Panel, 2017 – 2020
Chair, 2019 – 2020, Vice-Chair 2018 – 2019 - Duval County Taxation, Revenue, Utilization and Expenditures Commission 2018 – 2019
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Florida Bar
- United States District Court, Middle District of Florida
- Supreme Court of the United States (pending)
- Cherokee Nation
- Seminole Tribe of Florida
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- The Trouble With Tibble: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Fiduciary Duty,The University of Chicago Business Law Review, Online Edition, 2022
- Medical Marijuana Permits and Concealed Weapons Permits: When One Right Impacts Another, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy: Per Curiam, 2022
- Florida’s Constitution: 1812 – Present, For Lawyers Publishing, 2022. Second Edition 2023
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
- The future of climate change regulation and litigation in the United States. Presentation to the Workshop on: The Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment Across Regions: Implementation, Enforcement and Future Directions, hosted by the Southampton University Law School; Stockholm Environmental Law and Policy Centre, at Stockholm University; and the Global Network on Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE), Southampton, United Kingdom, April 2025.
- Legal Developments in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Regulation, Presentation to the American Bar Association 2023 Mid-Year Conference, New Orleans, LA, February 2023
- Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Fiduciary Duty, Presentation to the International Conference on European Company Law and Corporate Governance, Zagreb, Croatia, November 2022
- The Decline of Judicial Independence in Europe: Is the US on the Same Path?, Presentation to the American Bar Association International Law Conference, Washington, D.C., April 2022