Judge Carey was appointed to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on January 25, 2001.  While serving on that Court, Judge Carey was designated by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to serve also as visiting judge in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  On December 9, 2005, Judge Carey received a full-time appointment to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  He served as the Court’s Chief Judge from 2008 – 2011.

Judge Carey earned his B.A. in 1976 from The Pennsylvania State University, where he was honored with the 1976 Ralph Dorn Hetzel Memorial Award, which recognizes a combination of high scholastic attainment together with participation and leadership in student activities.  He received his J.D. in 1979 from the Villanova University School of Law.

Judge Carey began his professional career as law clerk to Bankruptcy Judge Thomas M. Twardowski (now retired), then served as Clerk of Court of the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Court’s top administrative post.

Judge Carey entered private law practice in Philadelphia in 1982, concentrating in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial lending, corporate transactions and commercial real estate and development.  During this time he represented chapter 11 debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, lenders, real estate developers, landlords and buyers and sellers of businesses.  In 2001, he left Fox Rothschild O’Brien & Frankel in Philadelphia to accept his appointment to the bankruptcy bench.

In 2016, Judge Carey completed six-years of service as the bankruptcy judge member on the Space and Facilities Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, an appointment made by Chief Justice Roberts.  Judge Carey remains a member of the Third Circuit Judicial Council’s Facilities and Security Committee.  He was recently appointed by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to serve on the AO’s Bankruptcy Judge Advisory Group as the Third Circuit representative.

Judge Carey is an adjunct professor in the LL.M in Bankruptcy Program at St. John’s University School of Law in New York City and at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia.   He is a contributing author to a leading treatise, Collier on Bankruptcy and Collier (Commercial) Forms Manual.

Judge Carey is active in a variety of professional associations.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute and is a past Global Chair of the Turnaround Management Association.  He is also a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.  Judge Carey has spoken frequently at international, national, regional and local conferences for the American Bankruptcy Institute, Turnaround Management Association, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, New York Institute of Credit and others, including M&A Advisors.

He received a judicial recognition award from AIRA in 2009 for contributions to the bankruptcy and restructuring professions, the Conrad Duberstein Memorial Award from NYIC in 2012 for excellence and compassion in the judiciary and the 2017 Leadership Award from M&A Advisors.  Judge Carey is an honorary member of the Turnaround, Restructuring and Distressed Investing Hall of Fame.  He will be inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy in March, 2019.