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Howell E. Jackson

James S. Reid, Jr., Professor of Law

Howell E. Jackson
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Howell Jackson is the James S. Reid, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. His research interests include financial regulation, consumer financial protection, securities regulation, and federal budget policy. Professor Jackson has served as a consultant to the United States Treasury Department, the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. He frequently consults with government agencies and congressional committees on issues related to financial regulation. From 2023 to 2024, he was a Senior Adviser to the National Economic Council.   Since 2005, Professor Jackson has been a trustee of College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF).  He has also served as a director of Commonwealth, a non-profit dedicated to strengthening financial opportunities for low and moderate-income consumers. Professor Jackson has co-authored three books—Financial Regulation: Law and Policy (Foundation Press, 2016; Fourth Edition, forthcoming 2025), Analytical Methods for Lawyers (Foundation Press, 2003; Third Edition, 2017), and Regulation of Financial Institutions (West, 1999)—and written numerous scholarly articles. He is co-editor of Fiscal Challenges: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Budget Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2008). At Harvard University, Professor Jackson has served as Senior Adviser to the President and Acting Dean of Harvard Law School. Before joining the Harvard Law School faculty in 1989, Professor Jackson was a law clerk for Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall and practiced law in Washington, D.C. Professor Jackson received his J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Harvard University in 1982 and a B.A. from Brown University in 1976.