A law graduate of Clare and Yale, David Howarth joined the University's Department of Land Economy in 1987 as an assistant lecturer in Law. He was subsequently promoted to lecturer, reader and in 2015 to professor. He became Head of Department in January 2020. He teaches constitutional law, private law, comparative environmental law and law and economics, having previously taught business law and environmental policy. In 2012 he founded and acted as Director of Cambridge's Master's in Public Policy, where he taught courses on Public Law and Public Policy and Climate Change Policy and was Co-Chair of the University's Strategic Research Initiative in Public Policy. His research has covered both private law and public law topics and he is especially interested in issues of legal design (e.g. Law as Engineering (2014)). Outside the University, Professor Howarth served as MP for Cambridge (2005-2010) having previously served as a Cambridge City Councillor for 17 years, for three of which he was Leader of the Council. From 2010 to 2018 he was a UK Electoral Commissioner. He is an honorary bencher of Middle Temple.

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