The American Bar Association has appointed R. Thomas Howell, Jr. as General Counsel, effective Aug. 20.
Howell, a career-long member of the Association, was formerly Vice President and General Corporate Counsel of The Quaker Oats Company from 1984-96, and also corporate secretary from 1994-96. His career with Quaker Oats began in 1971. Most recently he has worked with the Chicago law firm of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, practicing general business law, and serving as interim general counsel for two clients of the firm.
“Tom Howell brings a depth of legal and management experience that will benefit the ABA and its members as we move forward to serve the public and the profession in many new ways,” said Henry F. White, executive director of the ABA. “As a long-time and active member of the association, Tom has a level of knowledge of the organization’s functioning that will give him a head start on the work of this important position.”
Howell, who most recently has been active in the ABA Section of Business Law, earlier was a member of the ABA Young Lawyer Division and the then General Practice Section. From 2004-07 he chaired the Association’s Standing Committee on Strategic Communication. Howell has had extensive legal and business experience in many aspects of law relating to business and consumer products companies. He has been involved in corporate compliance, governance, executive compensation, distribution, regulatory, antitrust and transaction related matters.
Howell’s professional affiliations also include memberships in the Chicago, Illinois and Wisconsin Bar Associations, and the Economic Club of Chicago. He has held leadership positions in the Chicago Bar Foundation, the Lawyers Club of Chicago and the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. He serves as a director of Metropolitan Family Services of Chicago, Lawyers for the Creative Arts, and as a member of the Steering Committee of the Pro Bono Initiative.
Howell earned the degree of Juris Doctor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, the A.B. degree at Williams College, and he has participated in the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.