A full-time arbitrator and mediator and member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, Mr. McDowell has adjudicated or facilitated settlements in more than 600 cases. With over 30 years’ experience as a litigator, his background includes, but is not limited to, labor, employment, business and commercial, securities, and energy matters, as well as various forms of alternative dispute resolution.
As either lead litigator or litigation manager, he has managed cases to verdict or settlement in state, federal, administrative, and alternate dispute resolution forums.
His substantive expertise is derived from employment as Deputy General Counsel, and Director of Human Resources for Allegheny Energy Supply, Inc.; Senior Counsel for Dravo Corporation; Assistant United States Attorney, U. S. Department of Justice; and the private practice of law.
Mr. McDowell received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Dayton.
He is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. His court admissions include: U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania and the Southern District of West Virginia. Mr. McDowell has received an “AV” Peer Review Rating, the highest rating awarded by Martindale-Hubbell.
He is past Chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Allegheny County Bar Association, and past Regional Chair of the National Academy of Arbitrators. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a past member of the Board of the Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania. He has been appointed to the panel of E-Discovery Special Masters as part of a pilot program administered by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, which panel is also available to the judges and counsel in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. McDowell is a former Co-Chair of the Workplace Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution.