print page
print full bioNikki Hininger Howell
Profile
Ms. Howell is an associate in the firm’s Kansas City office. She defends employers and management in employment-related disputes in various forums, focusing primarily on discrimination, retaliation, harassment and wrongful discharge cases.
Ms. Howell's extensive employment litigation experience includes eleven trials (including first chair experience), several employment arbitrations, taking and defending multiple key witness depositions, drafting successful summary judgment motions, arguing dispositive motions in court, representing employers in settlement conferences and in mediation, and defending EEOC on-site inspections.
Ms. Howell is originally from Independence, Missouri. She began her legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable John R. Gibson, who sits on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Experience
Ms. Howell’s recent successes include:
- Obtaining a defense verdict in a jury trial in Missouri State Court, in which the plaintiff alleged claims of gender discrimination and retaliation under the Missouri Human Rights Act
- Obtaining a defense jury verdict in a lawsuit brought by the EEOC in federal court in Florida, in which an employee alleged a failure-to-promote race discrimination claim
- Obtaining monetary sanctions against a plaintiff who deleted relevant computer documents and attempted to manufacture evidence in support of his claims, which were later dismissed through summary judgment
Education and Honors
J.D., University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, 2004
B.A., summa cum laude, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001
- Editorial Board, Missouri Law Review
- Order of the Coif
- Order of Barristers
- Top "20 in their Twenties" by Ingram's magazine
- Missouri Rising Star by Super Lawyers (2009, 2010)
- "Boss of the Year" by the Heart of American Legal Professional Association (2009)
Professional Activities
- The Missouri Bar
- Kansas City Metro Bar Association
- Association of Women Lawyers
- Missouri Co-Chair for iCivics (program spearheaded by Sandra Day O'Connor)
- Centurions Leadership Program through the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
In The News
- May/June 2010 - Journal of the Missouri Bar - "The Law of Jury Selection in Missouri State Courts"
- Winter 2004 - 69 Mo. L. Rev. 275-297 - "Two Heads Are Better Than One: Making A Case For The Either Party Viewpoint For Removal"
- 2004 - 29 Okla. City U. L. Rev. 405-439 - "Mitigation of Psychological Damages: An Economic Analysis of the Available Consequences Doctrine And Its Applicability to Emotional Distress Injuries"
Missouri
U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri
U.S. District Court, District of Kansas
U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois
U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth and Tenth Circuits
U.S. Supreme Court