Practice Chair

Jason Downs

Jason Downs

Shareholder

Background

Former chief deputy attorney general for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General. Respected civil and criminal litigator. Sharp legal mind with prodigious work ethic.

Jason Downs taps into his experience managing one of the premier AG offices in the country and his reputation as a top-notch trial attorney to help clients engage with government enforcement agencies. As co-chair of both the State Attorneys General practice group and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) group, he serves as lead counsel for clients facing enforcement action, takes a creative approach to educating the state AG community on behalf of clients and helps businesses understand the authority of state attorneys general. Jason also provides strategic advice on parallel civil and criminal investigations as well as civil rights audits. His work includes helping Fortune 500 companies mitigate risk and improve equity in hiring and managing employees, and impact on consumers and the community. 

As chief deputy AG, Jason managed all legal matters brought on behalf of, or against, the District of Columbia and oversaw enforcement actions involving local and multistate anticompetitive, unfair and deceptive trade practices. Prior to that, he served as general counsel at the Office of the Attorney General. He also spent seven years at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, serving as lead counsel on 26 felony jury trials against federal prosecutors. 

Jason serves as trial advocacy workshop faculty at Harvard Law School and is an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. He's also fluent in Spanish.

Representative Matters

Recent Experience

  • Convinced federal prosecutors not to indict the chief financial officer of a company under investigation for foreign importation statutes violations.
  • Persuaded federal prosecutors to dismiss a 17-count indictment after a week-long jury trial and four days of deliberations resulted in a hung jury.
  • Successfully litigated an 8-level variance from the federal sentencing guidelines in a case involving bribery of a public official.
  • Won a contested hearing before the DC Board of Elections for alleged violations of campaign finance laws.
  • Resolved consumer protection investigation launched by state attorney general into a Fortune 500 company without the necessity of a complaint.
  • Conduct audits on behalf of and advise Fortune 500 companies on litigation risk regarding diversity, equity and inclusion matters, public facing commitments, civil rights and algorithmic discrimination.

Insights & Publications

Credentials

Education

J.D., 2007, University of Maryland School of Law

B.A., 2004, University of Baltimore

 

Admissions

District of Columbia

Maryland

U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

U.S. Supreme Court

Community Involvement

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

Board of Directors, LearnServe International

Board of Visitors, University of Maryland

Youth Mentor, Thurgood Marshall Public Charter High School

Professor, AGA-Africa
 

Recognition

AWARDS:

Minority Corporate Counsel Association, Rising Stars, 2022

National Law Journal, Legal Awards, D.C. Rising Stars, 2022