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Philip K. Howard (born 1948), a lawyer in New York, is perhaps best known as the author of the book The Death of Common Sense (1995), which chronicles the effects of modern law acts like central planning. He was subsequently asked by then-Vice President Al Gore to write the introduction to Gore's book Common Sense Government. Howard has since written The Collapse of the Common Good (2002), which describes how fear of litigation undermines daily choices. In 2002, he formed Common Good, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that advocates reforms to restore reliability to law, such as creating expert health courts. Howard has long been active in the civic life of New York City. He is currently Chairman Emeritus of The Municipal Art Society of New York, and he was Chairman of the committee that installed the “Tribute in Light” interim memorial for the World Trade Center tragedy.

In June 2008, Howard launched NewTalk [1], an online public policy forum that tackles tough issues that are inadequately addressed in the national political debate. Leaders who have participated in NewTalk discussions include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker.

Born in 1948, Howard grew up in eastern Kentucky, the son of a Presbyterian minister, and now lives in Manhattan with his wife and their four children. A practicing lawyer, he is vice-chairman of Covington & Burling, in its New York office. He has been continuously active in public affairs for over twenty years, holding a variety of public, civic, and teaching positions.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Philip K. Howard", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0