Dean T. Howell

Dean Howell is a member in the firm whose practice is focused primarily on civil litigation. Mr. Howell assists clients in various litigation matters involving toxic torts, product liability, insurance defense, and commercial landlord tenant disputes. He has also been extensively involved in the development and use of genomic and toxicogenomic evidence in toxic tort cases. Mr. Howell has spoken on the use of genomic and toxicogenomic evidence in toxic tort cases in seminars put on by Harris Martin in October of 2013 and March 2014.

As part of his practice, Mr. Howell has defended national oil and petrochemical companies in toxic tort cases in Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. He has participated in defense teams in litigation involving exposure to naturally occurring radioactive materials (“NORM”). He has also been involved in the development of expert evidence based on genomic and toxicogenomic testing and evidence in defending clients against allegations of exposure to NORM. The most recent trial in which this genomic and toxicogenomic evidence was used resulted in a defense verdict in August 2013.

Mr. Howell was born in Morristown, Tennessee. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from The University of Tennessee in 1999 with a B.A. in history. Mr. Howell obtained his J.D., magna cum laude, from Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia, in 2002. He is licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Kentucky and has defended clients in toxic tort cases in Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.

While in law school, Mr. Howell served as a Lead Articles Editor for the Washington and Lee Law Review. He is co-author of the articles Trace Benzene Cases in the Real World: Is a Trace Benzene Case Really a Benzene Case? Litigation Watch: Benzene June 2005 and Mechanism or Causation? The New Battle Over Benzene Metabolites, Litigation Watch: Benzene May 2006.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Howell served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. W. Harold Albritton III, Chief United States District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery, Alabama, from August 2002 until August 2003. From August 2003 until August 2004, Mr. Howell served as a judicial law clerk in Abingdon, Virginia, to the late Hon. H. Emory Widener, Jr., United States Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.