Howard is Chair of the firm’s Communications Practice. A communications industry veteran with 30 years of experience, including several years as an advisor to key members of Congress on landmark policy issues, he represents cable, wireless, and telecommunications companies and trade associations on a wide range of issues before Congress, regulatory bodies, and the courts.
Before joining the firm, Howard served as senior counsel to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications in the US House of Representatives. During his four years in that capacity, he was responsible for the development of legislation on matters ranging from domestic telephone policy and international telecommunications to cable franchising, including serving as one of the principal drafters of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. He was also responsible for the subcommittee’s oversight of Federal Communications Commission activities in the areas of telephone and cable policy.
From 1978 to 1981, Howard was a staff attorney with Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, a public interest group founded by Ralph Nader. While at Congress Watch, he was responsible for telecommunications policy issues.
Howard has served as an adjunct professor at the National Law Center of George Washington University, where he taught a course in telecommunications law and regulation. He is the author of “The Communications Policy Process,” in New Directions in Telecommunications Policy (Duke University Press, 1989).
Recognitions & Awards
- Washington DC Super Lawyers: Communications (2012 – 2013)
- National Cable & Telecommunications Association Vanguard Award (2010)
- Chambers USA: District of Columbia – Telecom, Broadcast & Satellite (2000 – 2013)
- Best Lawyers in America: Communications Law (2006 – 2013)
Howard is Chair of the firm’s Communications Practice. A communications industry veteran with 30 years of experience, including several years as an advisor to key members of Congress on landmark policy issues, he represents cable, wireless, and telecommunications companies and trade associations on a wide range of issues before Congress, regulatory bodies, and the courts.
Before joining the firm, Howard served as senior counsel to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications in the US House of Representatives. During his four years in that capacity, he was responsible for the development of legislation on matters ranging from domestic telephone policy and international telecommunications to cable franchising, including serving as one of the principal drafters of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. He was also responsible for the subcommittee’s oversight of Federal Communications Commission activities in the areas of telephone and cable policy.
From 1978 to 1981, Howard was a staff attorney with Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, a public interest group founded by Ralph Nader. While at Congress Watch, he was responsible for telecommunications policy issues.
Howard has served as an adjunct professor at the National Law Center of George Washington University, where he taught a course in telecommunications law and regulation. He is the author of “The Communications Policy Process,” in New Directions in Telecommunications Policy (Duke University Press, 1989).
Recognitions & Awards
- Washington DC Super Lawyers: Communications (2012 – 2013)
- National Cable & Telecommunications Association Vanguard Award (2010)
- Chambers USA: District of Columbia – Telecom, Broadcast & Satellite (2000 – 2013)
- Best Lawyers in America: Communications Law (2006 – 2013)
Publications
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Co-author,
FCC Adopts Order Streamlining Its Foreign Ownership Review Policies , Communications Alert ()
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FCC Requirement for Written Consent for Telemarketing “Robocalls” and Autodialed Telemarketing to Cell Phones to be Effective October 16, 2013, Communications Alert ()
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Co-author,
FCC Order Permits Sunset of the “Viewability Rule,” Allowing Hybrid Cable Operators More Flexibility in Providing Analog Customers Access to Must-Carry Station Signals, Communications Alert ()
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FCC Adopts Clarifications and Proposes Modifications to its Pole Attachment Rules, Telecommunications Alert ()
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FCC Finalizes Rules on One-Day Porting Interval, Adopts Standardized Data Fields and Process Flows, Telecommunications Alert ()
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FCC Clarifies Policy on MDU Bulk Billing and Exclusive Marketing Arrangements with Cable and Other Video Providers, Telecommunications Alert ()
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Co-author,
Federal District Court Finds That Access Charges Should Not Apply to VoIP-Originated Calls Regardless of Filed Tariff Language because They Are “Information Services”, Telecommunications Alert ()
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Co-author,
Text4baby: Texting Health Messages to Pregnant Women and New Moms, mHealth Alert ()
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Author,
FCC Allows Cablevision To Encrypt Its Basic Video Service Tier, Telecommunications Alert ()
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FCC Issues Declaratory Ruling Clarifying Processes For State And Local Responses To Tower Siting Requests, Telecommunications Alert ()
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Author,
FCC Issues Public Notice Seeking Comment On Broadband Infrastructure and Health IT, Health Law | Communications Alert ()
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FCC Seeks Comment on Analytical Framework Necessary To Resolve Issues in the Special Access NPRM WC Docket No. 05-25, RM-10593, Telecommunications Alert ()
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Major Cable Operators Did Not Discriminate against Unaffiliated Programmer, Wealth TV, FCC Judge Finds, Telecommunications Alert ()
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Third Circuit Rejects FCC Finding That AT&T Lacks "Personal Privacy" under Federal Freedom of Information Act Definition, Telecommunications | Privacy Alert ()
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D.C. Circuit Finds FCC's Elimination of Dominant Carrier Regulation for Certain ILECs' Special Access Broadband Lines Reasonable, but Subject to Review in Current Special Access Docket, Telecommunications Alert ()
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FCC Extends Boston Scientific's Authority for Implanted Cardiac Devices, mHealth Alert ()
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mHealth Raise New FCC and FDA Issues, mHealth Alert ()
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D.C. Circuit Upholds FCC’s Expansive Reading of Its Authority To Ban Exclusive Cable Contracts with MDUs, Telecommunications Alert ()
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Impending FCC and Court Rulings to Shape Future of Access by Cable and Other Competitive Telecom Providers to ILEC Facilities, Telecommunications Alert ()
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FCC Sets Plan for Reform of Non-Rural High-Cost Universal Service Support, Telecommunications Alert ()
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Co-author,
FTC Releases Staff Report Announcing Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, Privacy & Security | Communications Alert ()
Speaking Engagements
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Speaker,
Hot Topics at the FCC,
CommNexus, San Diego, CA
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Co-chair,
Broadband and Cable Industry Law 2013,
PLI, Webinar
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Co-chair,
Broadband and Cable Industry Law 2012,
PLI, Webinar
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Co-chair,
Broadband and Cable Industry Law 2011,
PLI, Webinar
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Speaker,
Opening Remarks,
Pre-Kinnernet USA 2010 CIBN Event: Internet Freedom, Social Media and Policy-Making in the 21st Cent,
Mintz Levin and Economic Mission of the Embassy of Israel, Washington, DC
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Co-chair,
Broadband and Cable Industry Law 2010 Program,
Practising Law Institute, New York, NY
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Speaker,
The Genachowski Era: What Will It Mean for Cable?,
CableFAX Daily, Webinar
Newsroom
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Nine Mintz Levin Members Named Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers and Rising Stars, ()
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Sixty Mintz Levin Attorneys Included in The Best Lawyers in America, 2013 Edition, ()
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Forty-One Mintz Levin Attorneys Featured in Chambers USA 2012 Guide, ()
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Five Mintz Levin Members Named Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers, ()
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Forty-Three Mintz Levin Attorneys Included in The Best Lawyers in America, 2012 Edition, ()
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Thirty Four Mintz Levin Attorneys Featured in Chambers USA 2011 Guide, ()
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Thirty-Nine Mintz Levin Attorneys Included in The Best Lawyers in America, 2011 Edition, ()
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Howard J. Symons to Receive Top Cable Industry Award, ()
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Mintz Levin Adds Six Attorneys to Chambers USA 2010 Guide, ()
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Thirty-One Mintz Levin Attorneys Included in The Best Lawyers in America, 2010 Edition, ()
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Chambers USA Names 22 Mintz Levin Attorneys Leaders in Their Fields for 2009, ()
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Twenty-Nine Mintz Levin Attorneys Included in The Best Lawyers in America, 2009 Edition, ()
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Chambers USA Names 20 Mintz Levin Attorneys Leaders in their Fields for 2008, ()
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Howard J. Symons to Chair Mintz Levin's Communications Practice, ()
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Three Mintz Levin Members Named Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers, ()
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Quoted in
Board Focus for M&A, Corporate Board Member ()
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Chambers USA Names 19 Mintz Levin Attorneys Leaders in Their Fields for 2007, ()
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Four Mintz Levin Members Named Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers, ()