Dr Eleanor Rowan

(she/her)

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Interests

Broadly speaking, I have research interests in women and the law. I am particularly interested in legal ethics, the lawyer-client relationship, and social mobility and gender equality in the legal profession. I also have a keen interest in the legal rules and relationships between lenders, solicitors, and victim/survivors of economic abuse. I am currently researching legal responses to economic abuse, and how banks and solicitors have an important role to play in assisting victim-survivors. I would consider myself an expert on the law of suretyship and the case of Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge [2002] 2 AC 773.

Impact

In February 2025, my article 'Economic Abuse, the Bank, and the Devil in the Detail...' was cited in the Supreme Court (UKSC) hearing of Waller-Edwards v One Savings Bank Plc. After the hearing, Waller-Edwards' barrister - Mr Marc Beaumont - wrote the following about the impact my article had on the legal arguments he submitted to the UKSC:

'My oral submissions in the Supreme Court were in 6 parts. One part was devoted almost exclusively to the work of Dr Rowan. Her article also spurred me on to research the FCA's regulatory position and to read other important material on economic abuse. This was vital work. Only time will tell if it makes a difference, as the court has reserved judgment. But we put up strong arguments on economic domestic abuse thanks to Dr Rowan.'

In June 2025, the UKSC allowed Waller-Edwards' appeal in Waller-Edwards (Appellant) v One Savings Bank Plc (Respondent) [2025] UKSC 22 finding that One Savings Bank should have done more to protect her from entering a remortgage transaction under the undue influence/economic abuse of her ex-partner as they were on constructive notice to potential wrongdoing. As a result of Mr Beaumont's submissions on economic abuse as a form of domestic abuse, the UKSC highlighted economic abuse in an undue influence judgment for the first time. In the judgment written by Lady Simler (agreed with unanimously by Lady Rose, Lord Stephens, Lord Hamblen and Lord Briggs), she wrote at paragraph 38:

'First, it might have been thought that the increased participation of women in the labour market over the decades since O’Brien coupled with an increase in their levels of financial and other independence would mean that the prevalence of economic abuse between women and their spouses or intimate partners has reduced. But the evidence  shown to the court in the form of reports and regulatory activity suggests that is wrong.  Indeed, a report published by the Financial Conduct Authority suggests that as many as  one in six women in the UK has experienced financial abuse by a current or former intimate partner: see “The hidden cost of domestic financial abuse: working together to  improve outcomes” by Joanna Legg, 17 May 2024. Legislation and greater regulation in  this area suggest an increasing awareness and understanding of economic abuse as a form of domestic abuse (see for example section 1(3) of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021) and its damaging effects.'

My research was also cited and quoted with approval at paragraph [66]. Lady Simler quoted an excerpt of my article which related to my broader empirical work on lenders' conduct and solicitors' practices post-Etridge (explored in more detail in two previous articles 'Commerce over Care...' 2025 and 'Independent legal advice in remortgage transactions...' 2023 (see below)). Drawing on my empirical insights, I had argued that banks were likely to conduct themselves differently than the Court of Appeal decision required (and that an injustice would be caused to Waller-Edwards if the UKSC upheld the Court of Appeal's decision and reasoning). This point - whether lenders would require independent legal advice anyway in all hybrid (joint borrowing/suretyship) cases after the Court of Appeal's decision (even though the Court of Appeal endorsed a 'matter of fact and degree test') - was a matter of contention in the UKSC hearing. Despite multiple interventions and questions from their Lordships and Ladyships on this subject, neither the appellant's barrister nor the respondent's barrister could shed light on banks current or likely practices after the Court of Appeal's decision. I am delighted that my research was engaged with more completely post-hearing by Lady Simler, and that my research had some impact on the UKSC's decision, resulting in victim-survivor Waller-Edwards winning her appeal.

As a result of the UKSC's decision in Waller-Edwards, more women (who may be victims of economic abuse) are legally required to recieve ILA from solicitors before entering joint benefit remortgages with some component of suretyship. Whilst this is a good thing - and provides some sort of intervention before joint borrowers/sureties enter secured lending agreements - my explorative research shows that ILA solicitors need a better understanding of economic abuse and need to provide more contextual and relational advice for it to be meaningful. It is my belief that ILA solicitors should be required to probe clients about the management of family finances to help identify whether there are economically abusive traits/characteristics in their client's relationship which should inform the advice they give to the (potential) surety client about entering a remortgage or other type of suretyship agreement. It is regrettable that the UKSC did not see fit to comment on how solicitors should improve ILA post-Waller-Edwards. This is something I hope to explore further in future research/impact work.

Outputs

2025

Rowan, E. 2025 'Economic abuse, the bank, and the devil in the detail: One Savings Bank plc v Catherine Waller-Edwards [2024] EWCA Civ 302' Legal Studies 1 https://doi.org/10.1017/lst.2025.1

Rowan, E. 2025 'Commerce over Care: Legal advice given in potential economic abuse cases' 27 Legal Ethics 1 3-24 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1460728x.2024.2445387

2023

Rowan, E. 2023 'Independent legal advice in (re)mortgage transactions 20 years on from RBS v Etridge (No.2)' 2 Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 166

2021

Rowan, E. 2021. Commerce over Care: Surety Client Protections 20 Years on from RBS v Etridge (No.2). PhD Thesis, University of Birmingham

2018

Rowan, E. and Vaughan, S., 2018 '"Fitting in" and "opting out": exploring how law students self-select law firm employers' 21(3) The Law Teacher 216 

Rowan, E. 2018 'A 'Thorne' in the side for family lawyers in Australia: undue Influence and prenuptial contracts' 40(2) Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 238

Teaching

• Contract Law (UG)
• Land Law (UG)
• Themes in Socio-legal Studies (PG)

Biography

Qualifications

• LLB (Proxime Accessit), Liverpool John Moores University
• LLM, University of Birmingham
• MA Social Research, University of Birmingham
• Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods and Skills, University of Birmingham
• PhD, University of Birmingham

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:

• Women, equality and the law
• Legal responses to economic abuse
• Legal profession and legal ethics