James H. Cawley, Esq.
Commissioner
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, Harrisburg

Commissioner Cawley is a 1967 graduate of St. Bonaventure University and a 1970 graduate of Notre Dame Law School. He began his legal career in 1970 as one of the seven original law clerks serving the judges of the newly-created Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. He was later appointed Majority Counsel to the Pennsylvania Senate Consumer Affairs Committee where he drafted several major amendments to Pennsylvania’s public utility laws and assisted with codification of those laws. In 1977, he was appointed Chief Counsel to the Senate Majority Floor Leader. Thereafter, he was twice nominated and confirmed as a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, serving from November 1979 until September 1985. Then he returned to the private practice of law with a concentration on administrative law and appellate practice. His clients included a wide array of public utilities and competitive telephone, electric and natural gas providers. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Administrative Law at Widener University School of Law and is a frequent faculty member of Pennsylvania Bar Institute courses on appellate advocacy, public utility law and ethics. On April 25, 2005, Governor Edward G. Rendell nominated him to return to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. He was confirmed by the Senate of Pennsylvania on June 9, 2005, for a term ending March 31, 2010, and elected Vice Chairman by his colleagues shortly after taking office. On August 19, 2008, Governor Rendell appointed him Chairman, a position he until through February, 2011. On January 27, 2010, he was appointed by the Federal Communications Commission to serve as one of the four state utility regulators on the Federal-State Joint Board for Universal Service created by Congress in 1996 to ensure the availability of telecommunications services throughout the nation.