Courtney A. Schael

Courtney A. Schael has practiced exclusively in the area of business bankruptcy law since graduating from Seton Hall Law School magna cum laude in 1993. After ranking sixth in her law school graduating class, she served as law clerk to the Honorable Stephen A. Stripp, former United States Bankruptcy Judge, District of New Jersey. Upon completing her clerkship in 1994, Ms. Schael joined the prominent New Jersey law firm of Lowenstein Sandler as a bankruptcy associate. During her five years as a bankruptcy attorney with Lowenstein Sandler, she represented business debtors, including, construction companies, manufacturers, real estate development entities, a nursing home, and restaurants. Ms. Schael also represented secured creditors, including, banks, financial institutions, a brokerage firm, inventory suppliers, a rental car franchisor and real estate limited partnerships. She represented unsecured creditor interests both as committee counsel and counsel for individual Unsecured Creditors & Committees, including an airline, individuals, hospitals, labor unions, wholesalers, suppliers, and landlords. Ms. Schael continued her business bankruptcy legal career in New York City at the preeminent national law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. At Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, she worked as a bankruptcy attorney on various Chapter 11 bankruptcy matters, including preparing the bankruptcy filing of FINOVA, at the time, one of the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in history. Ms. Schael returned to her home state of New Jersey in 2003 to join the bankruptcy department of another prominent New Jersey law firm, Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti, LLP, in Morristown, New Jersey. During her five years as a bankruptcy lawyer with Riker Danzig, Ms. Schael represented business debtors in Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings, secured creditors, equipment lessors, indenture trustees, principals of debtors, individual and business defendants in avoidance actions and other bankruptcy litigation, principals and shareholders of debtors and a trustee of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy liquidating trust. Ms. Schael formed Ashford - Schael LLC in 2009 as a cost effective alternative to large law firms for business bankruptcy representation. Editorial Board, Seton Hall Law Constitutional Law Journal, 1992-1993. Merit Scholarships: NJ Bar Association, 1992; Hudson County Bar Association, 1992; Wallace Vail Scholarship, 1991; Sonia Morgan Scholarship, 1990.