The Hon. Geoffrey M. Howard is a judge for the Marin County Superior Court in California. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Jerry Brown in 2014. He filled the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. James R. Ritchie (Ret.).
He is registered without party preference.
Judge Howard received his B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He went on to earn his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Howard served as a clerk for the Hon. Samuel Conti with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for one year beginning in 1991. After completing his clerkship, he joined the law firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown, and Enerson LLP, where he practiced as an associate beginning in 1992. Six years later, in 1998, Howard was named a partner at the firm. He remained with the firm until 2002.
In 1996, he briefly worked as an assistant district attorney with the San Francisco County District Attorney's Office.
After leaving McCutchen Doyle et al., Howard was then named a partner at Bingham McCutchen, practicing in that capacity until becoming a managing partner at the firm's San Francisco office in 2007. Then, just prior to his appointment to the Superior Court in 2014, Howard became a partner at the Palo Alto law firm of Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius. During his time in private practice, Howard specialized in copyright infringement cases.
Judge Howard grew up in Ukiah, California. While in high school, he was a member of the track team, during which time, he set a region-wide record for the 800-meter race.