Nolan Downey

Nolan Downey

Nolan Downey began his career at the Shriver Center specializing in public benefits programs—particularly the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—and advocating for expanded access to these critical supports. Nolan directly represented SNAP recipients whose benefits had been erroneously terminated and engaged in administrative and legislative advocacy to strengthen the SNAP program. As a staff attorney for the Legal Impact Network, Nolan manages multistate projects in collaboration with members of the network, and convenes members to share resources, advocacy strategies, and information while identifying opportunities for joint advocacy. Nolan received his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law where he graduated summa cum laude and received the Senior Service Award for students who have made substantial contributions to the College of Law. Since his first year of law school, Nolan has coordinated DePaul’s Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project (NLAP)—a legal help desk assisting people experiencing homelessness in sealing and expunging their criminal records and obtaining state IDs. To this day, Nolan continues to volunteer at NLAP as a supervising attorney.