Leon Howard is the Deputy Director of ACLU of New Mexico (ACLU-NM). After graduating from the University of New Mexico School of Law, Howard worked as Assistant District Attorney in the First Judicial District of New Mexico. After leaving that office, he worked as a staff attorney for ACLU-NM, concentrating on First and Fourth Amendment cases. After two years Howard left for the private sector where he continued to focus on civil rights. In 2018, Leon returned to ACLU-NM as Legal Director, where he led the affiliate's legal department and litigation efforts. Now, as Deputy Director, he oversees the organization's legal, policy, and communications departments. Howard is a board member of the New Mexico Innocence & Justice Project, past co-chair of the New Mexico State Bar Committee on Diversity (8 years), part-time faculty at the University of New Mexico, and Past Vice President of the New Mexico Black Lawyers Association. Super Lawyers Magazine named him a “Rising Star” in the area of civil rights from 2014 through 2017, and in 2015 he was recognized by Albuquerque Business First Magazine as one of New Mexico’s “40 Under 40.”