Jennifer Burke Sylva is a relentless advocate. She provides practical and personalized guidance to help her clients understand their rights as well as the risks and benefits of opportunities. Clients frequently call her upon their “I have an idea” moments and also when the feathers hit the fan. Often hired by those who think and work outside of the box, she is a quick study who understands the creative business aspirations and innovations of her entrepreneurial clients. Jennifer works with individuals as well as newly formed companies, cross functionally with product managers and large teams within Big Tech, and as North American counsel for European clients. When working externally as general counsel for clients who have not yet built an internal legal team, Jennifer deftly responds to the A-Z of their questions with the agility of a ninja. She is adept at providing proactive guidance and navigating the minefields of negotiations and transactions, ever mindful to position her clients for success.

Before founding Sylva Law in 2006, Jennifer was head of legal for a major music and digital distribution company in the United States, wrangling complex contracts across multiple time zones as she steadied its domestic launch and later, the business expansion into Europe and Asia. Prior to that she served as General Corporate Counsel for one of the first digital distribution companies. With a passion for music and copyright from the start, while in law school she was articles editor for and published in Santa Clara University School of Law’s High Technology Law Journal, earned the High Technology Law Certificate, and won the national first place in ASCAP’s Nathan Burkan Memorial Writing Competition for her paper about music copyrights and digital distribution.

Jennifer is admitted in California and to the Roll of Solicitors England and Wales (with the right to claim a practicing certificate). She has taught copyright law as an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. When she is not negotiating deals, Jennifer serves on the Board of Directors for California Lawyers for the Arts, helping to educate, advocate on behalf of, and protect artists and creatives in all disciplines.​​