He graduated from Hofstra Law School in 1988 and spent the first seven years of his career doing defense work for the federal government and later for an insurance defense firm. Prior to opening up his firm in September of 2007, Mr. Downey was partner in the national law form of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi, where he handled a variety of high profile cases, including antitrust matters involving pharmaceutical products, PBM fraud, complex commercial cases and nursing home abuse and neglect matters.