The Honorable John P. Howard III

The Honorable John P. Howard, III, was appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in February 2022 by President Joseph R. Biden. Since joining the Court, Judge Howard has served on multiple committees; chaired the 2023 Judicial and Bar Conference “Home Rule in DC at 50: Looking Back and Looking Forward;” acted as a lead in the procurement of the Court’s new case management system; and chairs the DC Courts Artificial Intelligence Task Force.

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Judge Howard received his B.A. from Howard University, where he also served on the University Board of Trustees. Prior to law school, he was a congressional fellow, working in Louisiana following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Judge Howard earned his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center with pro bono recognition, attending as one of its first Opportunity Scholars. A leader in the Arabic and Black Law Students Associations, he represented Georgetown in moot competitions in Hong Kong and Vienna. He went on to serve as a judicial clerk to Chief Judge David C. Simmons, of the D.C. Commission on Human Rights, and, after graduating, for Judge Alexander Williams, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Judge Howard began his law practice in the DC Office of Akin Gump as an inaugural pro bono scholar and served on the local and firm-wide Pro Bono committees, the Pro Bono Scholars hiring committee, and the Associate’s Committee. After a brief period of practice in Texas, Judge Howard returned to the District, joining the bench in 2014 as an ALJ at the D.C. Commission on Human Rights. In 2018, he was appointed to the D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings, where he led the creation of its judicial clerkship program and served on the IT and Court Management Committees.

Judge Howard is a guest lecturer and adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center and a member of its Alumni Board. A fellow of the American Bar Foundation, he has received honors from the ABA, the National Bar Association, the Washington Bar Association, and others. He is a past chair of the Washington Bar Association Judicial Council and the D.C. Association of the Administrative Law Judiciary. Judge Howard is a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.