Kevin M. Downey, a lawyer at Hogan & Hartson, knew something was up when he started getting phone calls from reporters asking about former Fannie Mae head Franklin Raines.
Downey, 43, doesn’t get a lot of press calls. Most of his clients are power companies, and few lawyers know more about things like the Public Utility Holding Company Act. Eventually he figured out he wasn’t the only local lawyer operating under the Kevin M. Downey name.
The more newsy Kevin M. Downey was representing Raines in the federal investigation into exorbitant bonuses and possible accounting fraud at Fannie Mae. This Downey, a 41-year-old Harvard law grad and partner at Williams & Connolly, engineered a settlement in April in which Raines’s insurer gave up $24.7 million to end the case but Raines admitted no wrongdoing.
While Raines’s Downey was spending the summer wrapping up details of the agreement, the other Downey was working on a pro bono case for a group of Maine lobstermen who were trying to win relief from federal regulations on the type of gear they can carry on their boats.
It’s the kind of case, Downey smilingly says, that required a lot of on-site research.
Although the two Kevin M. Downeys had never met, the rule about six degrees of separation applies. Brian P. Downey, brother of the W&C Kevin M. Downey, was a law-school classmate of the other Kevin M. Downey’s at Dickinson School of Law.
This article first appeared in the October 2008 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here.
Lobster Guy? No, I’m the Fannie Mae Guy
Kevin M. Downey, a lawyer at Hogan & Hartson, knew something was up when he started getting phone calls from reporters asking about former Fannie Mae head Franklin Raines.
Downey, 43, doesn’t get a lot of press calls. Most of his clients are power companies, and few lawyers know more about things like the Public Utility Holding Company Act. Eventually he figured out he wasn’t the only local lawyer operating under the Kevin M. Downey name.
The more newsy Kevin M. Downey was representing Raines in the federal investigation into exorbitant bonuses and possible accounting fraud at Fannie Mae. This Downey, a 41-year-old Harvard law grad and partner at Williams & Connolly, engineered a settlement in April in which Raines’s insurer gave up $24.7 million to end the case but Raines admitted no wrongdoing.
While Raines’s Downey was spending the summer wrapping up details of the agreement, the other Downey was working on a pro bono case for a group of Maine lobstermen who were trying to win relief from federal regulations on the type of gear they can carry on their boats.
It’s the kind of case, Downey smilingly says, that required a lot of on-site research.
Although the two Kevin M. Downeys had never met, the rule about six degrees of separation applies. Brian P. Downey, brother of the W&C Kevin M. Downey, was a law-school classmate of the other Kevin M. Downey’s at Dickinson School of Law.
This article first appeared in the October 2008 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here.
More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Society Photos
Most Popular in News & Politics
What It Felt Like for a Virginia Marching Band to Win Metallica’s Contest
What’s IN and OUT in DC Restaurant Trends for 2024
Introducing 8 of DC’s Most Stylish
Best of Washington 2023: Things to Eat, Drink, Do, and Know Right Now
Washingtonian Magazine
May 2024: Great Getaways
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
13 Major Concerts and Music Festivals in the DC Area This Spring
Mary Timony on Her Emotional New Album, “Untame the Tiger”
The Beatles in DC: A New Exhibit in Maryland Looks Back on Early Beatlemania
Northern Virginia High School Wins Metallica’s Marching Band Competition
More from News & Politics
Rockville Police Are Searching for Culprits of a $4,500 Pickleball Paddle Heist
Dozens of Vintage Planes Will Fly Over the National Mall This Saturday
PHOTOS: “Rupaul’s Drag Race” Queens Work It at the National Mall
Meet the NIH Detectives Cracking Medicine’s Toughest Cases
5 of DC’s Most Interesting Ideas for Revitalizing Chinatown
A “Corpse Flower” Is Currently in Bloom at the Botanic Garden
How Emma’s Torch Is Changing the Lives of Its Refugee Workers
Former Fiola GM Convicted of Murder Is Now in a Netflix Docuseries