Patrick Downes is a Partner practicing litigation and employment law at Schaeffer Venaglia Handler & Fitzsimmons, LLP. In this role, he represents clients in various industries in connection with numerous complex commercial litigation matters in state and federal courts across the country. Additionally, Mr. Downes assists corporate clients with employment litigation matters and employment law-related counseling.

Mr. Downes’s representative matters include contract disputes, fraud actions, criminal antitrust investigations and franchise disputes. Mr. Downes has represented a major pharmaceutical manufacturer in a series of actions relating to pharmaceutical pricing brought by third-party payors nationwide. He has also counseled corporate clients on various employee relations matters; has conducted internal investigations involving compliance matters and matters involving employee fraud and other misconduct; has handled employment disputes before various administrative agencies; and has prepared employee handbooks, employment agreements and separation agreements. Mr. Downes also has substantial experience managing both small-scale and large-scale (i.e., nationwide) reductions in force on behalf of corporate clients.

Prior to joining Schaeffer Venaglia Handler & Fitzsimmons, LLP as a partner, Mr. Downes was associated with the law firm of Dornbush Schaeffer Strongin & Venaglia, LLP in New York, and before that he served as an Associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in New York. There he represented a wide range of clients in commercial litigation matters, including contract disputes, securities fraud actions, shareholder derivative actions, internal investigations and Article 78 petitions against various governmental bodies in the State of New York. Before becoming an attorney, Mr. Downes edited publications for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Mr. Downes is admitted to practice in the State of New York and the United State District Court for the Southern District of New York. He received his Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law in 2003, where he held the position of Marden Editor on the Moot Court Board and was selected for the Order of Barristers. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame in 1999.