Howard's achievements while at Hall & Associates included serving as the lead counsel on behalf of consumer groups in two California Supreme Court cases of first impression: Amwest v. Wilson (fully implementing Proposition 103, a 1988 insurance reform measure) [3] and 20th Century Garamendi (1994) (unanimously affirming lawfulness of Garamendi's complex premium rebate regulations resulting in over $1 billion in refunds ).

[5] While at Hall & Associates, Howard also served on the Drafting Committees for Proposition 186, an initiative that proposed to establish a state single-payer health care program.

While there, he worked on such cases as: Gregorio T. v. Wilson (1994) (successfully challenging anti-immigrant Proposition 187, lead on administrative and initiative law issues);[7] Wenger v. Trans Union (1995) (landmark challenge to credit reporting agency practices);[8] Carmen Doe v. Wilson (1997) (challenging former Governor Pete Wilson's effort to end prenatal care to undocumented women at Christmas time);[9] California Women's Law Center v. State Board of Education (1995) (successfully overturning Board of Education regulations on sexual harassment, leading to the enactment of new regulation);[10] and Proposition 103 Enforcement Project v. Quackenbush (1998) (successfully invalidating amendment to Proposition 103).

[11] Also, while at the Center for Law in the Public Interest, Howard wrote and spearheaded enactment of AB 156 (Murray), a sweeping reform of credit bureau practices that brought the issue of identity theft to the attention of the nation.

[12][13] He also co-wrote AB 50 with the California Bankers Association in 1998, the nation's first bill to regulate biometric identification, by making illegal the sale of voice, fingerprint and retina databases to third parties.

[15] During his time at CLIPI, Howard served as an adviser on auto insurance, health care reform and personal privacy issues for former 1998 gubernatorial candidate Al Checchi.

[20] The Commission was subsequently sued by Signal Landmark and Hearthside Homes, Inc. and Howard represented the Land Trust in that case, which turned aside the developer's challenge.

He drafted and staffed AB 32 (2000) (a bill jointly authored with Republican Assembly member Keith Richman to reform and expand Medi-Cal and Healthy Families and insure thousands more California children), SB 771 (2001) (establishing a state-maintained "Do Not Call" list that bars telemarketers from calling anyone on the list; jointly authored by Republican Assembly member John Campbell; now copied federally by the FTC);[23] and SB 1950 (2002) (broad reform of Medical Board's doctor disciplinary practices).

[37] When our government uses its blunt power to come into a home and remove children from their parents, you and I assume a terrific moral and spiritual responsibility to do right by these children; a responsibility to do better than the parents we took them from.In 2007 Howard also became the Senior Counsel for the Center for Public Interest Law, a nonprofit, nonpartisan academic and advocacy organization also based in the University of San Diego School of Law that studies occupational licensing and monitors California agencies that regulate businesses, trades, and professions.

[42] Howard was responsible for the press stories exposing that former UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi had accepted a post on Devry University's board of directors.

[47] Ed was asked by the National Center for Lesbian Rights to offer advice on strategies to defeat Proposition 8 banning gay marriage in Strauss v. Horton (2009) 46 Cal.4th 364 and to file an amicus curiae brief.

[48] Ed again worked with the center on behalf of the Children's Advocacy Institute to enact legislation permitting a judge to find more than two adults satisfy the legal test for being a parent if in the child's best interests.