Experienced Appellate Lawyer

After graduating magna cum laude from New York Law School, John Howley began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Roger J. Miner on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Mr. Howley assisted the judge in a wide range of appeals involving drug and firearms convictions, embezzlement, and securities fraud.

Mr. Howley spent the next 20 years representing multinational corporations and their executives in criminal investigations, trials and appeals.  He worked closely with his law partner, former U.S. Attorney Paul J. Curran, on a number of high-profile criminal cases, including the successful defense of a Teamster's Union President who was accused of embezzlement and several high-profile securities fraud cases.

Mr. Howley is best known for his unusual success in post-conviction proceedings for convicted murderers on death row.  In Haney v. Alabama, he brought a habeas corpus proceeding that resulted in his client, a death row inmate, avoiding the death penalty. In Richey v. Mitchell, Mr. Howley was retained by the British Government to pursue habeas corpus relief for one of its citizens who had spent 21 years on death row in Ohio.  The case resulted in a new trial.  In Virginia, Mr. Howley convinced a Republican Governor, James Gilmore, to grant the clemency petition of death row inmate Calvin Swann and, a few years later, convinced a Democratic Governor, Tim Kaine, to grant the clemency petition of another death row inmate, Percy Levar Walton.

"The best news a death row inmate could hear
​is that John Howley has agreed to take the case."

The New York Law Journal

Mr. Howley has represented clients in hundreds of appeals in state and federal courts throughout the United States, including in the U.S. Supreme Court.  His work as an appellate and post-conviction lawyer has been recognized by a number of prestigious awards, including The Gideon Champion of Justice Award from the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, The Thurgood Marshall Award from the New York City Bar Association, and The Medial for Excellence in Advocacy from the American College of Trial Lawyers.  He has been named one of New York's SuperLawyers.

Artist's rendering of John Howley arguing in the U.S. Supreme Court.

John Howley, Esq.
(212) 601-2728

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