As a teenager, John Dowd became fascinated with legal trials. He read Clarence Darrow’s books, and even transcripts of Darrow’s trials. Later, while working as a caddie and bartender on Nantucket Island, Dowd encountered noted D.C. trial attorney Edward Bennett Williams. Captivated by Williams’s stories about his clients and trials as well, Dowd’s resolve to become a trial lawyer was set. Dowd shared recollections of his resulting fifty years as a lawyer in an oral history given to the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit, now available on the Society’s website.
After graduating from Emory Law School in 1965, Dowd enlisted and became a Marine Corps Judge Advocate. In March 1967, Dowd learned that his brother, Tom, also a Marine, had been killed in Vietnam. Deeply impacted by the tragedy, Dowd nevertheless immersed himself in his military legal service and excelled. In his last case as a Marine, he won a new trial and acquittal of an enlisted man previously convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 1969, Dowd joined the Department of Justice where he was instrumental in prosecuting organized crime, including the earliest RICO cases. Subsequently, in private practice, Dowd continued to handle high-stakes and high-profile matters.
In 1989, while at Heron Burchette, he led the investigation into allegations that Pete Rose bet on baseball, resulting in Rose’s lifetime ban from the sport. After moving to Akin Gump in 1990, Dowd also represented John McCain in connection with the Senate Ethics Committee investigation of the so-called “ Keating Five.” Senator McCain was cleared of the allegations that he received contributions from the Chairman of Lincoln Savings & Loan Association for assistance with federal regulators.
In May 2017, after his 2015 retirement from law firm practice, until March 2018, Dowd became personal counsel to President Donald J. Trump in connection with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election.
During his time in private practice at Akin Gump, Dowd was also dedicated to pro bono work, and was proudest of supporting U.S. Marines facing legal challenges. That service earned him the Superior Civilian Service Award in 2019.
Read the full oral history, and interviewer David Tobin’s fuller summary of the oral history, here.