Courtney Freeman

Courtney W. Freeman, a preeminent former regulatory attorney with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), serves as Counsel at Adams & Reese and as a leading member of the national law firm’s Aviation & Aerospace Team. Courtney’s practice spans novel and traditional aviation issues, with a focus on major commercial and emerging aviation operations, traditional air carrier operational issues, route authority, other operator-centric matters, and airworthiness and manufacturing questions. For more than a decade, Courtney served in the Regulations Division of the FAA’s Office of the Chief Counsel, where she was recognized by industry and agency leadership as an innovator in regulatory law. Primarily overseeing projects relating to emerging aviation technologies, Courtney concentrated on issues such as integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS or drones) into National Airspace System (NAS) and international operations; Advanced Air Mobility (AAM); licensing and regulatory compliance; exemptions and waivers; and countless other novel and conventional aviation law matters. Courtney also has experience in traditional air carrier and general aviation operations, hazardous materials carriage requirements, pandemic response, environmental compliance, privacy matters, and Paperwork Reduction Act compliance. The team she led frequently handled issues of agency first impression, with Courtney often personally dispositioning the team’s most complicated legal matters. Courtney joined the FAA after completing the prestigious United States Department of Transportation Honors Attorney program, which selected her upon graduating from law school. In the Honors Attorney program, she completed rotations with the Office of International and Aviation Economic Law and the Maritime Administration.  While earning her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, Courtney served as a Notes Editor for the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law and completed internships with both the United States Department of Justice Aviation and Admiralty Litigation Division and the Chicago Transit Authority. She received her B.A. in History and Political Science from Northwestern University, where she also received a certificate in leadership.