James Petkun

James Petkun

General Counsel & Chief Legal Officer

About James

James A. Petkun is the General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of The START Center for Cancer Research. A strategic business executive, Petkun brings nearly two decades of experience in business, law firms, and government service to his leadership of START’s global legal function and personnel. He is responsible for identifying and managing enterprise-wide legal risk and ensuring compliance with international, federal, state and local laws in the jurisdictions where START operates. Petkun is a member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team, responsible for long-term strategy and operational growth, and serves as START’s Corporate Secretary, advising and supporting the Board of Directors.

Petkun previously was Head of Legal Affairs at Sun Pharma (NSE: SUNPHARMA), a multinational pharma company with 42,000+ employees, $6B+ in annual revenue, product sales in 100+ countries, and 40+ manufacturing facilities across five continents. At Sun, Petkun was responsible for advising the company, its global subsidiaries, and executive leadership on matters involving commercial transactions, business development and M&A, corporate governance, litigation, data-privacy, regulatory, antitrust, and compliance. Petkun joined Sun from private practice, where he was a partner at the law firm Klehr Harrison LLP, and counsel at the global law firm Reed Smith LLP.

Earlier in his career, Petkun served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. During his appointment as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Petkun investigated and prosecuted hundreds of matters involving complex economic crimes, cybercrimes, corporate fraud, money laundering, and cross-border crime. He first-chaired over 60 trials to verdict with the DOJ, including over 25 jury trials, and briefed over a dozen appeals, arguing five – two before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and three before the D.C. Court of Appeals. In recognition of his service, Petkun twice received DOJ Special Achievement Awards, was nominated by the DOJ for a Director’s Award, and received formal commendation from the FBI Director. He began his career as an associate at the global law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, prior to serving as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.