Mr. Downing has devoted most of his professional career to serving clients who are going through divorces or who have other Family Law problems.  His practice has been focused in the Courts of the ten counties of Southeastern Minnesota and in the Minnesota Courts of Appeal.  His efforts and skill in this regard have been recognized and acknowledged for many years.  He was first selected in 1977, on the basis of recommendations from peers and judges, to be designated a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. 

Formerly a senior partner with the O'Brien law firm in Rochester , he opened his own practice focused exclusively on Family Law issues in 1990.  His trained staff of attorneys and legal assistants shares his vision of providing clients a caring, supportive atmosphere in which to work through their stressful and complex domestic issues.  He and his staff are motivated by a desire to seek justice and fairness for clients and families going through difficult circumstances. 

Mr. Downing believes that Family Law attorneys owe two major responsibilities to their clients: the first, the traditional role of effective advocacy in negotiations or in the courtroom; the second - and equally important - is the duty to be a candid and objective advisor to clients within the attorney-client privilege that applies in these cases, based upon the experiences he has gathered in handling several thousands of Family Law matters. 

Born in Kansas, and growing up in small farming communities in Missouri and Iowa, Mr. Downing was educated as a chemist (minors in math and physics) at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa .  Following a brief, but unusually interesting and productive career as a New Soap Products Chemist for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio , he entered the University of Minnesota Law School on scholarships.  He graduated in 1962, and has been practicing in Rochester, Minnesota , since that time. 

Outside of his devotion to Family Law, Mr. Downing has been active nationally and internationally for a quarter century in the Environmental Movement, having held positions as a Trustee of the John Muir Trust in the United Kingdom, National President of the Sierra Club, President of the Sierra Club Foundation, and Trustee and Secretary of the Esalen Institute in California .  He has been honored for his environmental efforts by the Queen of England at Buckingham Palace and by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society at the Chambers of the Supreme Court of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Mr. Downing is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court; rated by his peers as AV (highest rating) in the Martindale-Hubbell Registry; and chosen for listing in Best Lawyers in America, Law and Leading Attorneys, and Who's Who in American Law. 

Areas of Practice

• Family Law

Bar Admissions

• Minnesota, 1962
• U.S. District Court District of Minnesota, 1963
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1978

Education

• University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1962
  J.D.
  Law Review: Minnesota Law Review, Editor, 1960 - 1962
  
  
• Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 1958
  B.S.
  
  

Honors and Awards

• Fellow, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 1977 - Present
• "Who's Who"
• "Best Lawyers in America"
• "Who's Who in Law"
• "Law and Leading Attorneys", 1994 - Present

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Minnesota State Bar Association
  
  
• American Bar Association
  
  
• Olmsted County Bar Association
  
  
• Third District Bar Association
  
  
• Minnesota Council of Family Mediators, 1982 - 1983
  Member, Board of Directors
  
  

Birth Information

• 1936, McPherson, Kansas