Jason ("Jay") Canavan joined the Office of General Counsel in January 2020 as a generalist attorney.  Mr. Canavan works closely with the Wharton School and its leadership on day-to-day activities and various initiatives, including attendant foreign and domestic intellectual property, tax, real estate, employment, student /faculty, data privacy, litigation, finance, governance, general risk management, and regulatory compliance issues.

Prior to joining Penn, Mr. Canavan was Associate University Counsel at Cornell University, where he was primary legal adviser on all of Cornell’s international activities (including institutional collaborations, joint degrees, foreign campuses, and curriculum licensing) and global executive education programming.  He also served as the key point of legal advice for Cornell’s Office of University Investments, providing counsel on a wide variety of investment structures, agreements, and regulatory compliance.  Prior to his work at Cornell, Mr. Canavan held a variety of roles at UBS Investment Bank (2011-2018), most recently as Head of Legal (Americas) for M&A, Advisory, and the Private Funds Group. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Canavan was an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (2007-2011), where he worked on a wide variety of corporate, sovereign, and non-profit corporate governance and securities law matters.

Mr. Canavan graduated from Cornell University (B.A. in Government, German Studies, and Comparative Literature, magna cum laude, 2004), where he was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa.  He received his law degree from Columbia Law School (J.D., 2007), where he was named a James Kent Scholar and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.   He is admitted to practice in both New York and Pennsylvania. He is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA), where he is an active member of the NACUANOTES Editorial Board.

Support Staff:

Kelly Sklodowski
Executive Assistant
Phone: (215) 746-5225
Fax: (215) 746-5301/5222
kelly.sklodowski@pennmedicine.upenn.edu  

Area of Practice:

• Wharton