Howard W. Brill

Howard Walter Brill (born October 18, 1943) is a law professor and jurist who was the chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, having been appointed to that position in September 2015 and serving until December 2016.

Biography
Brill was born October 18, 1943, in Englewood, New Jersey to Edwin Lois Brill Jr. and Catharine Linsmann Brill. The family moved to Daytona Beach, Florida when Brill was 11 where he attended high school, graduating in 1961. Brill went to the Duke University in North Carolina, but was expelled for plagiarism at the end of his first term, but was readmitted. He went on to obtain a degree in history and political science.

He joined the Peace Corps teaching English in a Sokoto Boys School in Nigeria before leaving December 1967 due to the Nigerian Civil War. Back in America he started at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 1968, but dropped out to teach high school geography. He returned and was awarded a scholarship for his works and performance before completing his Juris Doctor degree in 1970. He had met Katherine Price while in law school who he married and together they had three children. While at the university, he was a write-in candidate for the seat of the forth Congressional District. He taught legal writing in both the University of Florida and the University of Illinois before obtaining a master of law degree.

Brill practiced law with a small firm in Rock Island, Illinois and also taught law around the world including Saint Petersburg, Russia, Cambridge, England and Kaunas, Lithuania.

When Chief Justice Jim Hannah retired before the end of his term due to cancer, Brill was appointed by Asa Hutchinson to fill the position. Brill served from September 2015 until December 2016.

Brill has been a professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law since 1975. He has authored two books: Arkansas Law of Damages and Arkansas Professional and Judicial Ethics.

He has been appointed as a special justice by Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee both while they were Governors of Arkansas.