Ashley R. Lynam

Chair

Ashley R. Lynam is the Chair of Montgomery McCracken. She is the first woman and youngest person to hold the highest leadership position in the firm's 112-year history. Ashley also serves on the firm’s Management and Hiring Committees and serves as the firm’s Co-Trustee of the U.S. Law Firm Group.

Ashley is a trusted advisor and entrepreneurial advocate for her clients ranging from family-owned businesses to Fortune 500 companies. She handles all aspects of litigation across the full range of corporate and contract disputes, as well as antitrust and trade secret counseling, personal injury disputes, executive compensation counseling and catastrophic event response. She has successfully first-chaired trials in all such areas.

Known for her versatility and ability to creatively advocate, Ashley has handled the investigation, prosecution and defense of claims for clients including high profile commercial organizations, publicly traded companies, board members and C-suite executives, sports teams, startups, technology companies, pharmaceutical companies, hotels, educational institutions, charitable and social services organizations and more. Ashley is well-known for her strategic problem-solving skills, particularly in industries requiring the prioritization of public trust, and approaches each matter with sensitivity to the nuanced and correlated business and legal issues that arise in ever-changing corporate, employment and educational environments. She is known for vigorously protecting her client’s confidentiality while nevertheless providing aggressive representation in high-stakes, bet-the-company litigation. Ashley also provides sound counsel to company leadership in negotiations with legal and regulatory agencies and industry watchdogs, such as the Department of Justice, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Education, and more.

Ashley graduated summa cum laude as a business major from Villanova University and cum laude from Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law, where she was an executive member of the Moot Court Board. Ashley began her career as a rape prosecutor at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Ashley lives in Berwyn with her husband, Shane, three children, Lilly, Violet and Julius, and their beloved dog, Dominic. She never misses a Villanova basketball game.

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Credentials

Selected Speaking Engagements
Selected Publications
Honors & Awards
  • Selected to the Legal Intelligencer’s Lawyers on the Fast Track award in 2023. This award is issued by ALM and a description of the selection methodology can be found here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey or the highest court of any other state.
  • Honoree, Top 100 Women in Law, Women We Admire Magazine, 2021
  • Selected to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Star list in 2018-2021. This list is issued by Thomson Reuters and a description of the selection methodology can be found here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey or the highest court of any other state.
Professional Activities
  • Member, National Association of Women Lawyers
  • Member, The Forum of Executive Women
  • Member, Philadelphia Bar Association
  • Member, Pennsylvania Bar Association
Community Involvement
  • Board of Directors Member, Treasurer, Upper Main Line YMCA
  • Board of Advisors Member, The Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia
  • Board Member, Villanova Law Alumni Association
  • Executive Board Member, Villanova’s Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Education

Law School

  • Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

Undergraduate School

  • Villanova University