Honorable Karen Aileen Howze was appointed Magistrate Judge by Chief Judge Rufus G. King III on September 12, 2002. Judge Howze is a 1972 graduate of the University of Southern California where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. She graduated from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 1977.

Judge Howze was a reporter and editor with newspapers in San Francisco, Long Island and Rochester, NY, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. in a career that spanned 19 years. In 1981, she was tapped to be one of eight Founding Editors of USA TODAY and in 1989 became a news executive with Gannett Co., Inc.

After leaving Gannett in 1991, Judge Howze launched her law practice and focused on advocacy for children and people with disabilities, adoptions and the protection of the elderly. From 2000 to 2001, Judge Howze served as Special Master in the Family Division, D.C. Superior Court, to develop strategies for the implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act.  She is also the author of “Making Differences Work: Cultural Context in Abuse and Neglect Practice,” which was published by the American Bar Association, Center on Children and the Law in 1996.