Thomas A. (Tom) Downey has worked in an of counsel capacity in the same firm as Messrs. Norris, George and Ostrow since April, 2015. Prior to that time, Mr. Downey was associated with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, San Francisco, California, where he was Special Counsel for six years. Prior to Mr. Downey's tenure at Orrick, he was a partner at Jones Hall, A Professional Law Corporation, San Francisco, California for 20+ years and was one of several leading bond counsel on tax-exempt bond and loan financings for affordable rental housing projects in the State of California.
Mr. Downey has served has bond counsel and underwriter's counsel on a wide variety of tax-exempt financings, with emphasis on multifamily housing financings credit enhanced by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and bank letters-of-credit, and on FHA/GNMA financings and privately placed non credit enhanced financings. Since the early 1980’s, the State of California has been by far the largest market in the country for tax-exempt bond and loan financings for affordable multifamily rental housing. For over three decades, Mr. Downey has been considered one of the State’s preeminent bond counsel on these types of financings.
Mr. Downey attended LeMoyne College where he received a B.A. in Economics in 1970. Mr. Downey received his law degree from the University of San Francisco in 1982. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1982 (currently inactive) and to the California Bar in 1989.