Howard P. Willens is a managing director of Wilsie Co., LLC. Mr. Willens has practiced law in Washington, D.C. in both the public and private sectors. He served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice, assistant counsel to the Warren Commission, and executive director of the Presidents Commission on Crime in the District of Columbia. Mr. Willens was retained by the Marianas Political Status Commission to represent it in negotiations with the United States regarding their future political status (1972-1976) and served as counsel to the First Marianas Constitutional Convention (1976) and the Third Marianas Constitutional Convention (1995-1996). He served as Special Counsel to the Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands from early 2006 to November 2009. Mr. Willens has represented the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on status-related issues. He lectured on political history in the Marianas and developed materials for teachers. He was a fellow of the Micronesian Area Research Center in Guam. Deanne C. Siemer, esq., was co-collector of the materials.

Other works by Mr. Willens about the Northern Marianas include:

“The Infamous Solomon Mission Report of 1963: A Reappraisal After 40 Years,” Micronesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (2003). www.mihss.com.

“The Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands: Constitutional Principles and Innovation in a Pacific Setting,” Georgetown Law Journal 65 (August 1977): 1373.

The Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands, (1977). Five bound volumes containing all of the official papers of the First Constitutional Convention, Archives of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Negotiations Between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States (1972-1975) (1976). 13 bound volumes containing all of the official papers of the negotiations, Archives of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.