Software development & architecture
How systems are specified, estimated, built, and delivered — and what reasonable practice looks like when a project is late, over budget, or abandoned.
Expert Witness · Software, AI & IP · Denver
Expert analysis for software, AI, and technology disputes.
Two decades of building and deploying high-stakes software for the world's biggest brands — turned into accessible and insightful technical analysis.
Meet your expert
20+ years building, leading, and teaching the technology at issue.
Rob Howard is the founding partner of Howard Development & Consulting, the Denver software firm he started in 2009. He has spent more than twenty years designing, building, and reviewing software for some of the most demanding institutions in the country — Harvard, MIT, The World Bank, Marriott, and the U.S. Department of Defense among them.
As chief technology officer, he guided two companies through successful exits, and he has held board seats at technology, education, and legal defense non-profits — experience that bears directly on technical due diligence, engineering decision-making, and explaining both to non-technical stakeholders.
He maintains an open-source software framework powering 100,000+ websites, and founded Innovating with AI, an education company that has taught practical AI to 175,000+ readers and 2,000+ students. That mix — production engineering, open-source stewardship, and teaching — is what makes dense technical questions explainable to a non-technical audience.
Based in Denver, Colorado. Available nationally for remote and on-site engagements. CV and rate schedule on request.
Rob has built web software and tech solutions for
- Harvard Law School
- The World Bank
- Marriott International
- X Games
- JFK Airport
- ESPN The Magazine
- MIT Media Lab
- Boys & Girls Clubs
- Big Ten Fan Fest
- U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Planet Hollywood
- Department of Defense
Areas of expertise.
Where hands-on engineering experience meets the questions counsel actually needs answered.
Source code analysis
Structured review and comparison of codebases: authorship and provenance, version-control history, similarity, and what the record actually shows about who wrote what, when.
Software intellectual property
Technical analysis supporting copyright and trade-secret matters — code copying, derivative works, reverse engineering, and the line between protected expression and common practice.
Artificial intelligence & machine learning
How AI systems are actually built, trained, and deployed: data sourcing and use, model behavior and limits, automation claims, and what a given system can and cannot be said to do.
Web design, development & accessibility
Website and application build quality, plus WCAG and ADA-related accessibility conformance, remediation scope, and prevailing industry practice.
Open source & licensing
Open-source obligations in commercial software — attribution, copyleft and derivative-work questions, and compliance practice, informed by maintaining a framework used on 100,000+ sites.
Types of matters
Where the technical evidence changes the case.
Most technology disputes turn on a handful of concrete questions. The work is establishing what the systems, the code, and the record actually show.
Failed & disputed projects
Breach, abandonment, and fitness-for-purpose claims on custom software and website builds.
Copyright & trade secret
Allegations of copied code, misappropriated systems, or departing-employee disputes.
Web accessibility claims
WCAG conformance, remediation scope and cost, and what reasonable effort looks like.
AI & automation disputes
Claims about what an AI system does, how it was trained, and whether it performed as represented.
Technology due diligence
Assessing code quality, technical debt, and delivery risk behind a transaction or valuation.
Standard of care
Whether a developer's or vendor's work met accepted industry practice at the time.
How engagements work
Retained as consulting or testifying expert.
Consulting expert
Non-testifying support: early case assessment, technical strategy, deposition and examination preparation, and help making sense of the technical record.
Testifying expert
Written reports and declarations, rebuttal, and testimony at deposition, arbitration, or trial.
Source code review
Review conducted under protective order, with documented methodology and a clear chain of reasoning from evidence to opinion.
Plain-English translation
Turning architecture, code, and model behavior into explanations a judge, jury, or arbitrator can follow without a technical background.
A straightforward engagement, from conflicts check to testimony.
Conflicts & scope
A short call to run a conflicts check, understand the posture of the matter, and agree on scope, timeline, and terms before any work begins.
Analysis
Review of the code, systems, and record — with methodology documented as I go, so every opinion traces back to something specific in the evidence.
Report & testimony
A clear written report, then rebuttal, deposition, or trial testimony as the matter requires — explained in language the finder of fact can follow.
Start Here →
Discuss a matter.
Email or call for a conflicts check and an initial conversation about scope, timeline, and availability. CV and rate schedule on request.
1580 N. Logan St., Ste. 660, Denver, CO 80203