Her work focuses on public service, policy, and legislative efforts to protect the public trust. She provides training, policy expertise, and technical assistance to nonprofit agencies on the interpersonal violence issues of child abuse, child protection, domestic violence, human trafficking, and elder abuse. As a senior program attorney with the Vera Institute of Justice, an organization dedicated to working with government agencies, Ms. Downes worked with prosecutors and district attorneys' offices to improve the criminal justice system through technical assistance, policies, resolution of conflict, programs, and advocacy.