She has a BA from The University of Virginia, a JD with distinction from Emory University School of Law, and an LLM in Law Teaching from Temple University School of Law. After practicing corporate law in Atlanta for five years, Courtney moved to Philadelphia to teach at Temple Law School as an Abraham L. Freedman Teaching Fellow. Upon her return to Atlanta in 2000, she opened her own legal consulting firm which specializes in small and mid sized businesses, with a focus on intellectual property issues and general commercial law. She has been teaching as an adjunct at Emory since 2000 and is the author of an intellectual property law school text book. Among her clients are science fiction and fantasy conventions.