Howard joined Karnopp Petersen in 1980, after working as a legal services attorney on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona following law school.  He has concentrated his practice in the area of Federal Indian Law, especially with representation of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon as well as other tribes, on matters involving treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, tribal law development, government-to-government relations,and gaming. Howard has additional expertise in civil litigation and appellate practice.

Howard is active in Oregon’s statewide legal community. He has served as a member of the Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners, the Bar Examiners’ Review Board, and as a past member of the Executive Committee of the Appellate Practice, Indian Law and Legal Services sections of the Oregon State Bar.  He also served as a Lawyer’s Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.  Howard served as President of the Oregon Law Foundation Board for 2013 and currently serves as a Board Member of the Lawyers’ Campaign for Equal Justice Board.

Howard also is an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon School of Law. He teaches the survey course on American Indian Law as well as advanced seminars on Contemporary Issues in American Indian Law and Comparative Law of Indigenous Peoples. Previously, he was an adjunct professor at the Lewis & Clark Law School teaching the survey course and an advanced seminar on Federal Indian Law.

• University of Oregon School of Law, J.D. (1977)
• London School of Economics, M.Sc. with distinction, International Relations (1971)
• Stanford University, B.A. with distinction, Political Science (1970)

• Oregon
• Arizona
• Federal District Courts of Oregon and Arizona
• Court of Federal Claims
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Federal Circuit Court of Appeals
• United States Supreme Court
• Navajo Nation Supreme Court