Elizabeth Howe, OBE

Biography of Elizabeth Howe, OBE

Born and educated in Wales, UK.

Obtained a law degree from Exeter University, England in 1977 and admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Judicature for England and Wales in 1980.

Elizabeth has been a public prosecutor since 1980, working mainly in London, becoming Chief Crown Prosecutor for Kent, England in 1999.

She was Chair of the Kent Local Criminal Justice Board from 2003 to 2005 and was a member of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Executive Board and the Office of the Criminal Justice Reform Board.

She is a Higher Court Advocate and was President of The Kent Law Society from 2006 to 2007.

In 2007 she joined The International Association of Prosecutors [The IAP] as their General Counsel on secondment from the Crown Prosecution Service for England and Wales and was responsible for their professional work programme. She has become professionally involved with many international justice organisations such as the American Bar Association (ABA), the International Bar Association (IBA) The Commonwealth Secretariat and the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights (Siracusa Institute). She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law (ISRCL).

Since April 2015 she has been President of ILAC (The International Legal Assistance Consortium). ILAC is an NGO based in Stockholm, Sweden. It is an umbrella organisation comprising over 50 organisational members composed principally of law institutions and human rights groups. Its purpose is to coordinate justice development and capacity building programmes in fragile and post conflict jurisdictions. Elizabeth retired from the CPS and the IAP in September 2015 and became an honorary member of the IAP.

In January 2008 Elizabeth was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her service to the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales and in 2011 received an award from the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law for advancing their aims.

In July 2015 she was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England.

She lives in England and until recently was a Trustee for a Hospice for the terminally ill and is currently a Governor of a School Academy Trust.

Elizabeth lives in Kent, UK and is married to a Solicitor, they have 2 children, her daughter is a Veterinary Surgeon and her son works in the financial sector.