Jason H. P. Kravitt

Clients looking to maximize structured finance opportunities rely on Jason H.P. Kravitt’s deep experience in the field. The founder of the firm’s securitization practice and co-founder of the industry’s first trade association, Jason has helped Mayer Brown’s clients create some of the most significant securitization products used in the capital markets today (such as the use of true liquidity in ABCP Vehicles), led industry groups in connection with new legislation or regulation, and co-led large securitization transactions such as MLEC ($100 billion) and Straight A Funding ($60 billion) and RMBS mortgage litigation settlements such as the BofA/BNY Mellon $8.5 billion settlement.

Chosen by the Financial Times as one of the 10 most innovative lawyers in America, Jason has served as a director of the Structured Finance Association (SFA) in the United States, the Securitization Board of The Association of Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), and the China Securitization Forum (CSF).

The editor of and a contributing author to the treatise The Securitization of Financial Assets, Jason has taught at Northwestern University Law School, New York University Law School, and the William S. Richardson School of Law – University of Hawaii, and, as an adjunct professor of law, at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Jason served as co-chair of Mayer Brown’s Management Committee from 1998–2001.

• Created Straight-A Funding, LLC, a $60 billion asset-backed commercial paper conduit to finance the student loan industry with support from the Department of Education and the Federal Financing Bank.
• Created the form customer agreement documentation for the TALF program (and representing many of the primary dealers in their customer agreement negotiations) and several of the first TALF transactions.
• Represented industry groups such as large issuers of asset-backed securities, sponsors of ABCP Conduits, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), and the European Securitization Forum with regard to securitization regulatory initiatives, including, for example, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s Risk-Based Capital Consultative Papers, the FFIEC’s Risk-Based Capital projects, the FASB’s new Standards for Securitization, SFAS #125 and #140, the FASB’s Standard for Consolidation, Fin 46R, and SEC Amendments to Rule 2a-7 and Reg AB.
• Served as one of the organizers and senior officers of the securitization industry’s trade association, the American Securitization Forum.
• Represented the Sponsoring Banks in structuring the $100 Billion SIV rescue vehicle, Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit.
• Helped to create some of the most significant securitization products used in the capital markets today, including the first partially enhanced, multi-seller, asset-backed commercial paper vehicle in 1989 and the first CLO, FRENDS in 1988.

• The “pre-eminent securitization lawyer” — Chambers Global
• “A quarter back figure who is ‘an incredible legal strategist and a fantastic leader’” — Chambers USA
• Consistently rated in the highest category — Best Lawyers in America and Legal 500
• One of the 10 most innovative lawyers in America — Financial Times
• Best Lawyer in Securitization — Best Lawyers of the Year
• Securitization Lawyer of the Year in NYC — Global Fund Awards of Corporate Live Wire
• Outstanding Achievement Award for Contributions to the Capital Markets — IFLR
• Outstanding Contribution to the Securitization Industry Award — SFA
• Outstanding Contributions to Securitization Award — CSF
• Member of the initial class of Hall of Fame inductees (for six years in a row of high client praise for excellence) — Legal 500
• Recipient of the first-ever award for lifetime contributions to securitization — IMN of Euromoney
• First lawyer to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award for Outstanding Achievements — the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University

• University of Cambridge, Diploma, Comparative Law
• Harvard Law School, JD, cum laude
• The Johns Hopkins University, AB
  Phi Beta Kappa

• New York
• Illinois

• Director and Chairman, The Cameron Kravitt Foundation, which funds programs that teach medical residents how to help families who have had children die deal with their grief at teaching hospitals such as the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Weill-Cornell Medical Center, University of California at San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital, and Kapiʻolani Hospital in the United States and Addenbrooke’s Hospital at Cambridge University, England, 1985 to date
• Member of the Board of Directors of the SFA Charitable Foundation, which helps children of at-risk families obtain counseling, mentors, education, and post-education career opportunities
• Director, Structured Finance Association (SFA) in the United States
• Director, Securitization Board of the Association of Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) in London for the European Union
• Director, the China Securitization Forum (CSF) in Beijing
• Adjunct Professor, Northwestern University School of Law
• Adjunct Professor of Finance, Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University
• Adjunct Professor, New York University Law School
• Adjunct Professor, William S. Richardson School of Law – University of Hawaii
• Member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Honolulu Symphony Foundation
• Treasurer of the Board of Governors of the Pacific Club in Honolulu
• Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Opera Theatre
• Chair of the Board of Directors of DealCatalyst, a Multimedia Conference Company
• Chair of the Strategy and Recruiting Committee of the Harvard Alumni for Free Speech
• The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Advisory Council, 1991–1997, Advisory Board to the Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, 1999 to 2009; Chair 2006–2007
• Chairman, the Johns Hopkins University Illinois Alumni Executive Committee, 1990–1994
• Board of Managers, YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, 1999–2001
• Principal, Chicago United, 1997–2001
• Deputy Chair, American Securitization Forum
• Director, European Securitization Forum
• Committee on Business Financing; Vice Chair Subcommittee on Securitization Litigation, American Bar Association
• Chicago Bar Association Committees on Financial Institutions and Commercial Transactions
• Chicago Council of Lawyers
• Subcommittee on Securitization, New York City Bar Association
• Fellow, American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers
• Advisory Board, The Financier and The Securitization Conduit, 1996 to date
• Advisory Board of The Securitization Conduit Publications
• Advisory Board, American Securitization
• Advisory Board, Duke University Capital Markets Center