Philip K. Howard is a well-known leader of legal reform in America. He is the author of the best-seller The Death of Common Sense (Random House, 1995) and The Collapse of the Common Good (Ballantine, 2002), and he is a periodic contributor to the op-ed pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He advises leaders of both parties on legal and regulatory reform issues. A practicing lawyer, Howard is Vice-Chairman of the law firm Covington & Burling LLP.

In 2002, Howard founded Common Good, a national non-partisan legal reform coalition dedicated to restoring common sense in America. The Advisory Board of Common Good is composed of leaders from a broad cross-section of American political thought, including former U. S. Senators Howard Baker, Bill Bradley, George McGovern and Alan Simpson.

Howard has long been a civic leader in New York. He is Chair of the Committee that installed the "Tribute in Light" Memorial for those who died on September 11th. He is also Chairman of the Municipal Art Society of New York, a leading civic group that spearheaded initiatives to preserve Grand Central Terminal.