Michele Courneya heads up Starfield & Smith's Minneapolis, Minnesota branch office. She practices in the areas of banking, contracts, real estate and commercial law with an emphasis on SBA lending.

Michele is the former Minnesota District Counsel, Senior Franchise Counsel, Chair of the Authorization Committee and Chair of the Streamlining 504 Closing Committee for the U. S. Small Business Administration. During her 15 years with the SBA, Michele was instrumental in writing, editing, updating and automating the SBA's loan authorizations, the Agency's primary contracts with lenders. She developed and implemented internal control systems at the SBA to streamline program procedures and drafted and edited rules and regulations implementing new agency policies. In addition, she oversaw agency websites on franchises and advised on franchise eligibility issues. As a nationally recognized expert, Michele has extensive background assisting the lending community on legal issues related to all SBA programs including regulatory compliance, ethical issues, eligibility, and loan processing, closing, liquidation and litigation. Since joining the firm, she has assisted with the revisions to the SOP 50-10(5) and the new liquidation regulations.

Michele has taught seminars on loan closing, documentation, franchising and other legal issues related to SBA lending for the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO) and the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL), who named Michele "Instructor of the Year" for 2008. She is a member of NAGGL and an affiliate member of NADCO and is qualified as a designated closing attorney under the SBA 504 Program.

Michele is a member of the Minnesota state bar and admitted to practice in the Federal District Court for the District of Minnesota. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School where she received her Juris Doctor degree and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul Minnesota where she received her B.A. in Philosophy.