Attorney Profiles

Courtney Seda McDonnell is a graduate of The Dickinson School of Law, where she wrote onto the Dickinson Law Review. Ms. McDonnell is also a graduate of Dickinson College, where she was a Latin major and member of Eta Sigma Phi, the national honorary society for Latin majors.

Before attending law school, Ms. McDonnell taught Latin at a prestigious private school and participated overseas in the study of classical language and archeology. While in law school, she clerked for the Honorable Magistrate Judge Charles B. Smith of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and clerked at the law firm of Cozen and O'Connor.

After graduating from law school, Ms. McDonnell accepted a position with the firm then known as Silverman Coopersmith Hillman & Frimmer within its litigation department. Thereafter, Ms. McDonnell co-founded McDonnell & Associates and, upon its opening, was instrumental in organizing and establishing the firm.

Ms.McDonnell is one of the firm's owners and is the firm's managing partner. In that capacity, she oversees all business, marketing and staffing operations of the firm. She also actively promotes and recruits women and minorities for the firm. Ms. McDonnell supervises several client accounts and oversees a team of associates to ensure that the clients' needs and deadlines are being met. To this end, Ms. McDonnell has developed innovative programs to promote efficiency and management of volume litigation while cutting costs. The firm has been recognized by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. for its excellence in achieving quality indicators and consistency in meeting deadlines.

Ms. McDonnell appears frequently in federal and state courts in premises liability, professional negligence, trucking cases, false arrest, and civil rights cases. Ms. McDonnell has tried several cases to verdict. She is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Ms. McDonnell is a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), the American Bar Association, the Philadelphia Bar Association, and its Women and Minorities on the Profession Committees. Ms. McDonnell was recently selected by NAWL to chair the committee responsible for producing a book on the history of NAWL women.

Ms. McDonnell is also an Executive Board Member of the Metropolitan Business Park Condominium Association and works as a volunteer for the Support Center for Child Advocates in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.