Howard Friedman 

For over forty years, attorney Howard Friedman has been representing plaintiffs in civil rights cases alleging police misconduct, police brutality, false arrest, wrongful conviction, inhumane treatment of prisoners, and the right to record police officers. He has managed complex class actions on behalf of thousands of class members. Howard’s practice works to compensate people who have been injured and to change the policies or practices that caused the injury.

Howard has tried and settled many civil rights cases in state and federal courts. He was part of the “Dream Team” which won a combined verdict of $101 million for four men who were wrongfully convicted and their families. Howard has won multimillion-dollar settlements for other clients who were wrongfully convicted. He won a $3 million settlement for the family of a man who died from force used by Boston police during his arrest. Howard also won a $1.4 million settlement for a victim of police brutality. In one case a police officer was convicted in a federal criminal case for lying in a deposition Howard took in a civil case. He has also represented plaintiffs in several class actions alleging unconstitutional strip searches at jails or police stations, including a $10 million settlement in a class action for women who were illegally strip searched at the Nashua Street Jail in Boston.

Howard is a frequent lecturer on police misconduct and civil rights issues. He is the author or co-author of articles on police misconduct including a chapter on intentional torts for “ATLA's Litigating Tort Cases,” published by Thomson West. Howard has participated in training for police groups including at the Center for the Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier in Virginia and training for law enforcement officers from across the country in Cape Coral, Florida. These trainings typically focus on how to avoid civil rights violations. Howard has trained lawyers in civil rights law at continuing legal education seminars and has been a speaker at classes and programs at many law schools.

Howard is active in community groups concerned with civil rights. Howard is a member and past President of the National Police Accountability Project of the National Lawyers Guild. He has also participated in the Police Practices Coalition in Boston, the Greater Boston Civil Rights Coalition, and the ACLU of Massachusetts. He served on the police committee of Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger's Civil Rights Task Force. In 2013, he joined the board of the Human Rights Defense Center, the parent organization of Prison Legal News. Howard chairs the board of directors.

Howard is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the Supreme Court of Illinois (inactive status). He received his J.D. from Northeastern University Law School in 1977 and a B.A. from Goddard College in 1974.