As an experienced trial attorney Mr. Downey has litigated numerous types of cases in both Federal and state courts in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia and New York. He spent the first seven years of his legal career doing defense work for the Federal Government and a Virginia insurance defense firm. He defended a wide variety of cases including personal injury cases, criminal matters, employment matters, medical malpractice cases, declaratory judgment actions, commercial cases and civil rights claims.
In 1995, after having tried numerous cases to verdict on behalf of insurance companies, Mr. Downey became a personal injury lawyer for Plaintiffs, representing the injured parties in civil litigation matters. Before opening up his own law office, Mr. Downey was a partner at the national law firm of Robins Kaplan Miller and Ciresi, LLP where he handled a variety of complex cases, including elder neglect, health care fraud, medical malpractice, personal injury and antitrust matters. As first chair, he tried the landmark case of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, et al. v. Mylan Labs Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, et al. v. Mylan Labs, resulting in a 12 million dollar verdict (before trebling) against the defendants who were found to have willfully restricted competition in the market of two popular anti-anxiety medications. His work as a Washington DC personal injury lawyer includes many cases which have been tried to verdict, resulting in exceptional verdicts for his clients. Mr. Downey was recently included on the Best Lawyer's List in the Washingtonian Magazine for his work as a nursing home negligence attorney.