Derek G. Howard founded The Derek G. Howard Law Firm Inc. in Mill Valley, California. He has over 35 years of experience in complex litigation for consumers, employees, trust beneficiaries, athletes, and coaches. He has served as co-leader in many nationwide class action cases and obtained substantial awards through jury verdicts and pre-trial settlements. Mr. Howard’s practice has primarily involved prosecuting class actions and complex cases against major Fortune 500 corporations, attaining newsworthy and groundbreaking monetary settlements.
Since 2007, Howard has been elected by his peers as a “SuperLawyer” in Law & Politics Magazine, representing the top three percent of practitioners. In 2016 and 2020, he was named one of the Top 100 Superlawyers in Northern California. As a result of previous verdicts and settlements, Howard has also qualified as a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In 2014 and 2015, he was a Finalist for the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Consumers Attorneys of California. In 2018, he was named one of Northern California's Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.
After a clerkship at the Supreme Cout of the State of Alaska, Howard started with the national law firm of Pillsbury Madison and Sutro in 1986, specializing in antitrust and complex litigation for Fortune 500 companies. In 1999, he co-founded Murray & Howard LLP and was a managing partner until 2010, when he joined San Francisco-based Minami Tamaki LLP, Of Counsel until 2015.
Howard graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 with double majors in Political Science and urban studies. After two years working in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office's special investigations and organized crime units, he earned his Juris Doctor in 1984 from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco. He then received a Master's Degree in Sport Management from the University of San Francisco in 2009.
Howard is a Special Master and Discovery Facilitator for the Superior Court of Marin County. He has served on the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of California for seven years. Since 2015, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco's Sport Management Graduate Program.
