- March 12, 2026
After nearly 21 years on the bench, Circuit Judge Randell H. Rowe, III announces that he plans to retire next year when his current term of office ends on Jan. 4, 2027.
Rowe, who is the most senior sitting judge in the Seventh Judicial Circuit, has decided not to run for a fifth term and hopes that his early announcement will give others who may be interested in becoming a judge an opportunity to seek election later this year to the position he will be vacating.
Rowe began his legal career as the first judicial staff attorney hired for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, working for judges in Flagler and Volusia Counties. Following that opportunity, he served as an assistant county attorney for Volusia County. After nearly 12 years in that position, in December 2005, Rowe was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to fill a newly created circuit judge position in Volusia County. Subsequently, he was elected and then twice re-elected unopposed. For most of his judicial career, Rowe has presided over civil and criminal divisions and has served brief stints in family, probate, and drug court divisions.
For the entire time he has been a judge, Rowe also has served as a member of the Volusia County Law Library Board of Trustees, the Dunn-Blount American Inn of Court, and the DeLand Rotary Club. Rowe is a former officer and director of the Volusia County Bar Association and a two-term past president of the Flagler County Bar Association.
Rowe is a graduate of the 1983 centennial class of Stetson University and holds a bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance. Thereafter, he received his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
