Courtney L. Fernald
Courtney Fernald is the Co-Managing Partner of the Firm and practices appellate law and commercial litigation. She is Board Certified by the Florida Bar as an expert in appellate practice, and regularly handles appeals in both Florida state and federal courts. Certification is the highest level of evaluation by The Florida Bar of the competency and experience of attorneys in the areas of law approved for certification.
Courtney is also an experienced litigator, having served as counsel in multiple trials including both bench and jury trials, as well as arbitrations. She is a recognized leader in the legal community and currently serves on the Board of Directors and as the Membership Director (new members) of the Pinellas Chapter of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers. She is a past chair of the St. Petersburg Bar Association Appellate Practice Section and formerly served on its Executive Board.
Prior to beginning her practice, Courtney graduated summa cum laude, second in her class, from Stetson University College of Law. While in law school, she served as Articles Editor and Recent Developments Editor for the Stetson Law Review. She was also a member of Stetson’s Moot Court Board and completed Stetson’s Honors Program. Upon graduation, Courtney was awarded the E. Harris Drew Memorial Award for excellence in written and oral advocacy, and the Victor O. Wehle award for excellence in trial advocacy.
She is a 2010 graduate of Leadership St. Pete, a division of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and one of the oldest leadership programs in the country.
Courtney lives in St. Petersburg with her husband, Jonathan, and their two children, Gabriella and Sebastian.
- Stetson University College of Law – summa cum laude, Juris Doctor
- Rollins College, B.A.
Florida Bar
- Florida – all courts
- United States District Court – Middle District of Florida
- United States Court of Appeals – Eleventh Circuit
- Practices mainly in the area of appellate practice, and has successfully handled both final and interlocutory appeals, as well as original proceedings
- Practices in the area of commercial litigation and has experience handling a wide variety of cases including commercial contract and lease disputes, tortious interference, misappropriation of trade secrets, covenants not to compete, real property disputes, deficiency judgment actions, and commercial foreclosure cases
- Served as counsel in multi-day federal jury trial in Forth Worth, Texas, successfully argued for and obtained complete directed verdict entered in favor of the client.
- Served as lead counsel in appeal securing affirmance of favorable judgment in partition action.
- Served as lead counsel in appeal securing reversal of order in commercial landlord tenant case.
- Served as counsel in multi-day complex arbitration in a partnership dispute resulting in $15 million arbitration award in favor of the client.
- Served as lead counsel in appeal securing affirmance of summary judgment holding, after years of highly contentious litigation, that a covenant not to compete sought to be enforced against Englander Fischer’s client was unenforceable.
- Served as lead counsel in appeal securing affirmance of order permitting Englander Fischer’s client to plead and prove punitive damages in hotly contested litigation against national bank.
- Served as lead counsel in complex, multi-party suit for misappropriation of trade secrets. Secured a permanent injunction and judgment for both compensatory and punitive damages against one defendant in state court. Subsequently prevailed in a multi-day jury trial in federal court against remaining defendants and secured a judgment for compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney’s fees based upon the jury’s unanimous finding that the defendants’ misappropriation was willful and malicious.
- Served as lead counsel in both the trial and appellate courts in securing a permanent injunction against the City of Treasure Island on behalf of beachfront hotel owners, forever prohibiting the City from allowing vehicular traffic on Treasure Island Beach and protecting the delicate Gulf Coast seashore environment.
- Served as counsel in 7 year litigation seeking termination of an 85 year ground lease that culminated in the redevelopment of an entire city block in downtown St. Petersburg.
- Board Certified in Appellate Practice, The Florida Bar, June 1, 2016
- Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in Appellate Practice and Business Litigation, for (2012 – 2020)
- AV® Preeminent ™ Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell
- Super Lawyer in Appellate Practice and Business Litigation, (2021-2024)
- America’s Top 100 Bet-the-Company Litigators, (2020-2023)
- Recognized as 2023 Top Lawyer in Appellate Practice by Tampa Magazine
- Remembering RBG: A Look Back at the Life and Legacy of a Legend, a Year After Her Passing, Fla. Bar Journal, January/February 2022
- Not a Foregone Conclusion: The Importance of Advocating For a Favorable Remand Instruction in a Civil Appeal From a Final Judgment, Fla. Bar Journal, March/April 2020
- Presenting Speaker, Practice in the Second DCA, St. Petersburg Bar Association Appellate Practice Section, 2019, 2020
- Staying a Money Judgment on Appeal: The Florida Supreme Court Declines to Resolve Conflict Among Florida’s District Courts of Appeal, Paraclete, Sept/Oct. 2017
- Florida’s Murky Litigation Privilege – Is Your Demand Letter Protected?, Paraclete, March/April 2017
- Speaker, Practice in the Second DCA, St. Petersburg Bar Association Appellate Practice Section, 2015
- Panel Speaker, Preparing for Oral Argument, Florida Bar Appellate Practice Section, 2014
- Presenting Speaker, Recovery of Attorney’s Fees on Appeal, Florida Bar Appellate Practice Section, 2013
- Presenting Speaker, Preservation of Error in Jury Instructions, Florida Bar Business Law Section, 2013
- Certiorari Review: Seeking Relief from a Non-Final, Non-Appealable Order, Paraclete Nov. 2012
- Rule 1.420(b): Weighing “Directed Verdict” Motions in Bench Trials, Paraclete, Nov. 2012
- St. Pete Bar Association
- Executive Committee Board Member, (2021 – 2023)
- Appellate Practice Section, Chair, (2018 – 2021)
- Florida Bar Association Appellate Practice Section
- Executive Council, member, (2019 – present)
- Editor-in-Chief for The Record, (2019 – present)
- PFAWL (Pinellas Florida Association of Women Lawyers) Board Member, (2021 – present)
- Paraclete Editorial Board, (2014 – 2018)
- Community Action Stops Abuse (CASA), Governance Committee, (2013 – 2017)
- Leadership St. Pete Alumni Association
- Community Service Committee, (2021 – present)
- Planning Committee, (2011 – 2012)
- Leadership St. Pete, Alumna, (2010)
