The Honorable William L. Howard, Sr. was born January 19, 1948, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to parents Bettye Adwell and Leroy A. Howard. He received his B.A. from Dickinson College in 1970 and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina Law School in 1973. He accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he trained in the Army Transportation Corps.
After law school, he entered private practice, eventually becoming a partner at Belk, Howard, Cobb, and Chandler until 1988. Afterwards, he was elected as a judge for the Ninth Judicial Circuit of SC. In 1996 he was elected to the SC Court of Appeals as an associate judge until his retirement from the bench in 2004. He returned to private practice with Clement Rivers, LLP until 2018.
Judge Howard was treasurer of the Circuit Judges Association, chairman of the Ninth Circuit Fee Dispute Resolution Committee, and a hearing officer for the Judicial Standards Commission. He served on the Judicial Continuing Legal Education Committee, Committee on Comparative Negligence, Exclusive Jurisdiction-State Court Asbestos Litigation, ABA High Profile Trial Advocacy Advisory team, SC Bar Ethics Advisory Committee, and the Governor’s Committee on Consumer Affairs. He was General Counsel, Town of Mt. Pleasant, SC and served as chair of the Long-Range Planning-Summit Charter School, in Cashiers, NC.
He was a member of the SC Bar, Trial Lawyers Association, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, American Society of Law and Medicine, and was a Certified Civil Court Mediator.
He was a member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church, and the Exchange Club in Mt. Pleasant, SC. He was also a member of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd and Rotary Club of Cashiers, NC, and the Country Club of Sapphire Valley in Sapphire, NC. He enjoyed fishing, golf, croquet, playing music, and painting.
The Honorable William L. Howard, Sr. died on April 13, 2022. He is survived by his spouse, Daphne Howard; children, William L. Howard, Jr. and Tiffany L. Howard; grandchildren, Chase A. Howard, Wm. “Liam” L. Howard, III, and Samantha Howard; and sister, Peggy Leete. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Teddy L. Howard.