“If I hadn’t gone to law school, I would probably still be cooking, or owning a restaurant and bankrupt by now,” Howard said with a laugh. “But I would love to have a food truck.”
The 63-year-old Louisville, Ky. native graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1982 with a marking/businesses administration degree. Then he took a year off, working in Lexington, Ky. cooking up steaks at the Cork and Cleaver.
“I had no idea what I wanted to do,” Howard said.
The son of a doctor and one of three children, Howard knew his father would eventually push him to do something with his college degree, “so I thought, I will apply to law school.”
Howard’s father had quit law school to become a doctor — a decision Howard said his father regretted.
That began a journey at Salmon P. Chase College of Law in Cincinnati, the night school program, because he wasn’t accepted in the day program, to clerking for “some of the best” Butler County common pleas judges, and eventually picking up the gavel himself.
“That was the thing as a bailiff up here. I got to study and see attorneys in the courtroom everyday, good ones and bad ones. So, I learned so much more in that three years than I learned from law school, because it was hands on,” Howard said.
For 29 years after admission to the bar in 1987, Howard grew his practice as a defense attorney specializing in what it took to defend clients charged in death penalty cases.
He took about 25 capital cases, working two death penalty trials with his second wife and defense attorney Melynda Cook Howard.
“You had to have a passion for it — to save the life of your client,” he said.
Howard was appointed to the bench by the governor in 2017 to fill the vacancy of Judge Craig Hedric, who died suddenly in office in 2016. Hedric was Howard’s longtime friend whether they were on opposite sides in the courtroom or trying cases together. Howard was elected to his first full judicial term in November 2018.
The Howards live in Middletown, which is where Greg relocated during his second year in practice. They have two dogs and a cat, Coco. He has two grown children and an 11-year-old grandson and Melynda has an 18-year-old daughter who is in her first year in college.
“When I first went out on my own, I rented space from (attorney) Frank Schiavone and because the Schiavone family was in Middletown, and I chose there. Plus at the time there was no direct route from the interstate to Hamilton and at one time I lived in a suburb of Louisville called Middletown. Seemed right,” Howard said.
Howard remains the cook of the house where he is often whipping up something by the pool — grilling, smoking or in a pizza oven.
“I like to cook anything. I make a really good cheesecake,” Howard said. “My Mom was a great cook, that’s where I got my love of it.”
The family spends lots of time in South Carolina where they own a house on Fripp Island. That’s where his other hobbies — fly fishing, and woodworking — shine.
Howard said he golfs, boats and fishes at the beach and has outfitted the house with his woodworking projects including bunk beds, a kitchen table, side tables and headboards.
“It (furniture) is a lot cheaper to make, and more fun. Plus, I know it will last,” Howard said. “If the house gets hit by a hurricane, those bunk beds will still be standing.”
The Howards also enjoying biking, are Cincinnati Bengals season ticket holders and he ran the Flying Pig Marathon in 2001.
Howard said the judgeship is isolating, especially to someone who is used to socializing, but he has managed to keep a few core lawyer friends in the business that he sees outside of the courtroom, often for breakfast.
“I don’t tell people I met what I do when they ask. I just say I am involved in the legal profession,” Howard said. “I don’t want to be treated any differently than anybody else. It is a position, I am no better than anybody else. I don’t want my friends to treat me any differently. I don’t want anybody to treat me any differently.”
He admitted while he loves his current position, “I miss the trial work. I miss the courtroom and cross examining people. I miss being a lawyer.”
But he doesn’t see going back into practice in retirement.
“Maybe I will buy that food truck,” he said with a smile.
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