JOHN W. HOWALD – PARTNER AT THURMAN LAW FIRM
For more than 50 years, I have practiced law with the Thurman Law Firm. My practice has always been concentrated on the individuals and families I was privileged to represent. Most of those individuals have become friends. As I move into retirement and the role of “of Counsel” to the firm, I am able to use the experiences I have had and the contacts I have made in the practice throughout the Country to assist the current practicing members in their representation of clients.
Practice Areas:
Bar Admissions:
- State of Missouri (1962)
Education:
- BS for University of Missouri in 1957
- LLB ( Now JD ) from St. Louis University in 1962
- Member of the American College of Estate Planning Counsel (ACTEC)
- Past President of the Jefferson County Bar Association
- The Eureka Chamber of Commerce and the Eureka JAYCEES
- Former member and Chairman of the Missouri Ethics Commission
- Served on the Missouri Board of Governors for 12 years, 2 of which served as the financial chair.
Undergraduate
- President of Social Fraternity
- U.S. Navy – A top graduate of the Navy Supply School which earned the position of independent duty as a supply officer on a Destroyer Escort.
- Law School – Member of the Law Review and selected a member of the Order of the Woolsack as being in the top ten percent of the class.
Practice
- President of the Jefferson County Bar Association
- Served for 12 years on the Board of Governors of the Missouri Bar
- Received the Missouri Bar President’s award in recognition of outstanding service to the Bar
- Selected to be a Fellow of the now American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
- Served as State Chair for five years
- Listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s who in American Law and Top Attorneys in the St. Louis Area as well as Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Howald was born in St. Louis in 1935 and grew up in Eureka, Missouri on the family farm in Jefferson County, graduating from Eureka High School in 1953. He then attended the University of Missouri at Columbia where he majored in Agricultural Economics and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1957. While at the University of Missouri Mr. Howald was active in various student organizations, primarily with the University of Missouri marching band and with his undergraduate fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha. He served as an officer in his fraternity and was president his junior and senior year.
After graduation he served two years in the United States Navy having participated in ROTC at the University of Missouri. Mr. Howald attended the Naval Supply School in Athens, Georgia as a part of his naval career, graduating third in his class and was given choice of duty, electing to serve in an independent duty position on a destroyer escort in the South Pacific.
Upon completing his tour with the Navy, he returned to the Eureka, Missouri area and started an auto parts distribution business. He elected to attend St. Louis University Law School, graduating in 1962, the same year he was admitted to the Bar. While in law school he was a member of the editorial staff of the St. Louis University Law Review in 1961 and 1962 and was selected to be a member of the Order of the Woolsack which is restricted to the top ten percent of a law school graduating class.
Mr. Howald joined the firm in 1964 and served as president of the Jefferson County Bar Association in 1964-1965. He served as a member of the First Young Lawyer’s Section Council of the Missouri Bar from 1967 to 1970. He then served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Missouri Bar from 1975 to 1986. He received the Missouri Bar President’s Award in 1979 in recognition of his outstanding services to the bar. Mr. Howald served on the Missouri Ethics Commission of the State of Missouri from 1994 to 1998 and was chairman in 1997 and 1998.
Mr. Howald’s practice areas have included trial practice, but he now concentrates in the area of family business, corporate law and estate planning. He is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Greater St. Louis and served as its president in 1980. Mr. Howald was selected a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel in 1981, has served as Chairman of the Missouri Fellows of said college and remains active with the College. Mr. Howald has been listed in “Who’s Who in American Law”, as well as “Who’s Who in America” and appears in recent editions of Top Attorneys in the St. Louis Area and The Best Lawyers in America.
In addition to being licensed in all Missouri Circuit and Appellate courts, Mr. Howald is licensed to practice in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Mr. Howald has a long record of service to the community, having been a founding member of the Eureka Jaycees, a past president of the Eureka Jaycees and Chamber of Commerce, served as State Legal Counsel for the Missouri Jaycees, and is a member of the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce. In addition he is a member of the Jefferson County Growth and Development Association, was a member and president of the Meramec Basin Association and served as a member of the Citizens Advisory Group working on a revised land use plan for the future of Jefferson County. He is a regular speaker to community groups regarding estate planning and business organizations.
