Mike Dowd is dedicated to confronting and fighting injustice. He has been long-recognized by his peers and the press for his courtroom skills, particularly his zealous courtroom advocacy on behalf of his clients. Even before the scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in 2002, Mike Dowd singularly stood out as a tireless champion of victims of sexual abuse. And since 2002, he   has represented more victims of clergy sexual abuse in the New York metropolitan area than any other attorney. In fact, he was the first attorney after the scandal broke to actually go to trial against a New York area diocese, winning 11.45 million dollars on behalf of two persons who were molested by a youth minister in a Catholic parish. He also has represented victims against the Boy Scouts of   America, the Harlem Boys Choir, a synagogue and a number of large corporations.

Mike Dowd  is a pioneer in the battered women’s movement. Back in 1979, when few heard of the problem of domestic violence, Mr. Dowd successfully defended a battered woman who killed her husband. He is also the founding director of the Pace University Women’s Justice Center and the recipient of awards for his work on behalf of battered women.

Mike Dowd’s legal advocacy efforts have attracted the attention of local, national and international  media throughout his long career.  Numerous interviews with him have appeared in the New York Times, New York Daily News, New York Post and he has appeared on numerous television news programs like the CBS Evening News, ABC’s Primetime Live, Bill O’Reilly and all the major New York metropolitan local news shows.

Mike Dowd was born in Queens, New York. He attended Xavier High School, Fordham University and received his law degree from St. John's University School of Law in 1966. He is admitted to practice law in New York and U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He has also had   pro hac vice admissions in a number of other states during his career.  He has been practicing as a trial attorney in New York City and the surrounding areas for  over forty years.  In addition to his representation of victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, as a criminal defense attorney he has zealously represented hundreds of defendants in federal and criminal court on a variety of serious matters.