Patrick Noonan
After more than a decade serving colleges and universities as an attorney, investigator, compliance leader, consultant, and educator, Patrick founded Grey Zone to deliver investigations and consulting services that are consistently high-quality, efficient, and trusted. With deep expertise in civil rights and higher education, Grey Zone streamlines the process of managing discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and retaliation matters, so clients get prompt, confident support without unnecessary complexity.
Our Goal:
A Higher Standard
of Service
Since 2009, Patrick has conducted hundreds of independent investigations across sectors—from Fortune 300 companies to small nonprofits—while also supervising hundreds more in leadership and consulting roles. Having seen the strengths and frustrations of external investigators from every angle, he designed Grey Zone to raise the bar: faster turnaround, exceptional quality, and direct access to the expert doing the work. No handoffs, no bureaucracy—just exceptional service built on skill, clarity, and reliability.
Background
Grey Zone is grounded in Patrick’s experience across law firms, state agencies, judges’ chambers, corporations, and institutions of higher education. That background shapes a philosophy centered on truth-seeking in complex, sensitive environments. Bringing in an outside investigator can be difficult; trust matters. Grey Zone honors that trust with honesty, integrity, transparent communication, and the highest ethical standards—helping clients move through challenging situations with confidence and clarity.
Résumé:
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Patrick has worked in the civil rights environment since 2007, and has served in leadership roles both on campus and through consulting services for institutions of higher education across the country. He brings a deep knowledge of Title IX, and discrimination, harassment, and retaliation (“DHR”) issues, a passion for navigating complex systems and organizations, and a knack for data and analytics to his clients.
Most recently, Patrick was a senior associate at Grand River Solutions, where he offered a wide range of Title IX and civil rights services to clients across the country. Before GRS, Patrick served as the Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Programs at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where he established the university’s first office dedicated to addressing discrimination and harassment beyond the Title IX context. Prior to VCU, Patrick served as a Director at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, where he oversaw investigations and policy functions, including drafting College policies implementing the 2020 Title IX Final Rule.
Patrick also served as an investigator for Title IX and discrimination, harassment, and retaliation (“DHR”) issues and as the institutional Employment Equity and Compliance Coordinator at the University of Southern California (USC), where he led efforts to establish an employment law compliance program and spearheaded projects ranging from GDPR compliance to threat assessment and management. Patrick also taught Employment Discrimination Law and HR Compliance for graduate programs at the USC Gould School of Law. Before moving to Los Angeles, Patrick was an employment law fellow in the Office of Legal Affairs at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, OH.
An experienced educator and speaker, Patrick has provided live training for students and employees at universities across the country and has lectured at conferences and corporate speaking engagements on numerous topics, including trauma-informed investigations, affirmative consent, wage and hour compliance, and OFCCP enforcement.
Patrick is licensed to practice law in California. He received his juris doctorate and graduate certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the OSU Moritz College of Law in 2013. He attended Cornell University for undergraduate studies, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations and minors in Law and Society and Inequality Studies.
Patrick lives with a Greyhound dog, named Rigatoni (or “Toni” for short), who is the inspiration for the Grey Zone logo.
Our Ethos
Grey Zone is rooted in the pursuit of truth in complex and challenging situations. Our goal is to upend what is accepted as “normal” and provide only spectacular service for every client.
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