Background
Howard was born in Jacksonville, Florida.
Howard was born in Jacksonville, Florida.
She received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Vanderbilt University in 1987 and her Juris Doctor with honors from the University of Florida College of Law in 1990.
At UF Law she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the Symposium Editor for the Florida Law Review. On January 9, 2007 she was nominated by President George West. Bush to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Her nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 15 and she was commissioned as a judge on February 20, 2007.
Howard was in private practice in Jacksonville from 1990 to 2003 as a civil litigator concentrating in labor and employment law, and was a member of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel.