Alison M. Howard - Lawyer in Oklahoma City, OK

Alison Howard is a director in the firms Oklahoma City office and chair of the Employee Benefits ERISA practice group. She has practiced law for more than 15 years, largely in the employee benefits and health care law arenas. Alison provides clients legal advice and document drafting services and also handles complex civil litigation and appeals. She is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and all federal and state district courts in Oklahoma. Additionally, she is listed in the Best Lawyers of America in the areas of Appellate Practice and Employee Benefits.*

Alison has broad experience in the fields of employee benefits and health care law. She has addressed issues arising under a variety of federal statutes, including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicare, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the False Claims Act (FCA), the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA), antitrust laws, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA). In addition to more typical disputes over employee benefits, insurance, and contract performance, Alison has represented clients in disputes involving novel and/or complex issues, such as federal preemption of state law, conflict between federal laws, and application of law to tribes and religious entities.

She has contributed to multiple publications, penning the chapter on Affordable Care Act Litigation for Bloomberg Laws Benefits Guide and authoring Back to the Future: Provider-Employer Alliance Direct Contracting for Health Benefits, published in the American Bar Associations health law magazine The Health Lawyer. The American Health Lawyers Association and Oklahoma Bar Journal also have published Alisons work.

Alison received her degree in English and Pre-Medicine from the University of Notre Dame, where she was a member of the English Honor Society and recipient of the Knute Rockne Student Athlete Award in Track and Field. She continued her education at Notre Dame Law School, where she was honored as a Notre Dame Law School Scholar, as well as a first-year Moot Court Best Speaker. Alison enjoyed 16 years living abroad in Germany, Panama, Canada, and finally in England, where she completed the Concannon Program of International Law, consisting of courses and seminars in comparative and international law.