Judge Howard has worked for the state of Minnesota since 1971, either as a special assistant attorney general or in a management role. Most recently Howard was the assistant attorney general and division manager of the labor law division, assigned to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. There he managed the occupational safety and health administration, labor standards prevailing wage, and workers’ compensation sections. He was also the attorney for the commissioner of labor and industry that was responsible for legal advice concerning pending litigation, proposed rules, and proposed legislation. He was responsible for representing the department and the Special Compensation Fund in workers’ compensation proceedings, administrative hearings, and court proceedings.

The dispute between BE&K and Boise Cascade brought his position into high profile. Howard was involved in the disputes over the number of apprentices to journeyman on the job, as well as data practices litigation. Boise and BE&K sued to enjoin the rules regarding the apprenticeships as a violation of the NLRA and ERISA. That matter has progressed through the federal court to the Eighth Circuit court.

Prior to this, Howard was the special assistant attorney general assigned to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry where he was the manager of the workers’ compensation section. He also served as attorney for the commissioner of labor and industry and as general counsel to the Department of Labor and Industry and the Special Compensation Fund. In this position, he worked closely with Commissioner Bohn to cut down the backlog on cases. "We were able to make the system work again," said Howard.

Prior to working with the workers’ compensation division, Howard was an assistant commissioner of insurance with the Minnesota Department of Commerce. His responsibilities there included policy analysis with principal responsibility for preparing and supervising the preparation of legislation, reports, and administrative rules in the area of workers’ compensation. Judge Howard also supervised the takeover of the workers’ compensation assigned risk plan from the Insurance Industry Association. During this period of deregulation for the workers’ compensation rates, the uninsured division was also developing, and Howard expanded upon that as well as the Special Compensation Fund areas of second injury law and supplemental benefits.

Howard was also involved in the initial development of the comprehensive health insurance rules in Minnesota. The requirement of mandatory benefits and an assessment of the rest of the industry to pay for such benefits was upheld by the Eighth Circuit on both the constitutionality of the legislation as well as the state’s authority to tax insurance companies to pay for such a program.

Judge Howard’s first job for the state of Minnesota was with the Minnesota Department of Highways and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety as a special assistant attorney general.

William Howard grew up in Baltimore. He obtained his B.A. in 1968 from the University of Minnesota with a major in political science. He obtained his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1971. Howard is married to Julie Howard, a registered nurse. The couple has two teenage sons, Danny, 13, and Andrew, 14. They live in St. Louis Park. Howard is active in Boy Scouts, the school system, and his church. He is on a referendum steering committee for his school system. Howard has authored many articles on workers’ compensation, as well as CLE texts. He has also been a lecturer for the various CLE organizations in the workers’ compensation area.