ABOUT THE FOUNDERS

Bios for Other Principals of The General Counsel

Karen Ward

Karen Ward joined The General Counsel as a principal in October, 2006.  Karen is an attorney who has spent the majority of her career as Corporate Counsel doing a variety of legal work for the companies she represented. She has worked with The Boeing Company, Yamaha Motor Corporation and Ricoh Electronics Inc. While at Boeing Karen managed international commercial contracts and traveled frequently to Japan to work with Japanese subcontractors. At Yamaha Karen was responsible for the training of the sales staff, supervisors and the customer relations department, she managed all types of litigation from breach of contract to employment cases. At Ricoh Karen worked closely with the human resources department advising on employee relations issues, she reviewed contracts and was involved with internal compliance issues.  Karen has experience working all over the United States and internationally.  Karen can work well with both top executive management as well as the employees “in the trenches”. In addition to working for large, international corporations Karen co-founded Harassment Training Counsel, a company that provides sexual harassment and discrimination prevention training to companies.

Karen graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 1992 with a degree in Political Science and she obtained JD degree from Southwestern University in 1995.  Karen is an active member of the Southern California section Association of Corporate Counsel, and also the National Association for Women Business Owners.

Charles Savoni

The General Counsel welcomed Charles Savoni as an additional principal in October, 2006.  Charles has over 15 years of in-house corporate legal and management experience with both large and small employers, in industries as diverse as software development, high tech  computer and peripheral products and aerospace. Charles has counseled on a wide variety of matters, including corporate governance and compliance, advising board of directors, software license agreements, commercial contracts and leases, individual employment terminations and group layoffs, sexual harassment training, and business transactions including asset purchase agreements, commercial lines of credit and a Private Investment in Public Entity capital infusion of $9 million.

Charles was most recently Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Artemis International Solutions Corporation.  Charles directed the legal affairs for the international corporation (publicly traded in the U.S), which developed, marketed and supported Portfolio/Project management software solutions for Global 2000 Companies.  Charles guided Artemis’ executive management team and board of directors in successfully selling the Company, from selecting the investment banker to signing the transaction, which closed in July of 2006.

Prior to his public company experience, Charles was Assistant General Counsel (and staff attorney) for Canon Computer Systems, Inc., supporting Canon in-house for nearly eight years in capturing key market share in the competitive printer, digital camera and computer peripheral spaces.  Before Canon, Charles worked for nearly three years as a corporate employment and labor attorney for McDonnell Douglas Corporation, where he utilized his experience prior to becoming an attorney as a labor and employment practitioner for over five years with the Hughes Aircraft Company.  

Charles attained his J.D. from the University of Southern California in 1990; earned his Master of Labor and Industrial Relations degree from Michigan State University in 1982; and obtained his B.S. from Cornell University in 1980. Charles is actively involved in the San Clemente community, supporting AYSO soccer (as a referee) and San Clemente’s high school football program (this past year, as Freshmen game day video man), while raising two children with his wife of nearly 20 years, Virginia.

Gerald Bloch

Gerald (Jerry) Bloch is the latest addition as principal of The General Counsel.  Jerry brings over 25 years of broad-based experience balanced between in-house and private practice. His in-house positions were with Wells Fargo Bank and later The Grupe Company where he was Associate General Counsel and Vice President. He then became General Counsel for Pacific Monarch Resorts, where he substantially reduced the company’s legal expenses, acquired two large real estate development projects and developed the first “points” timeshare program in California ever approved by the Department of Real Estate. He also helped supervise the HR function managing about 800 employees.

Upon his transition to private practice, he became outside General Counsel for Magellan Software (later known as Gauss Interprise, now the Gauss Division of Open Text Corp) where he helped the company acquire land and construct its headquarters. He developed a contract management system and review committee for revenue recognition purposes under accounting rules, negotiated major end user transactions and supported the company’s HR function, including policies, hiring, terminations and investigation of workplace issues and employee complaints. He also helped the founders of INDX Software Corporation with several early rounds of financing and agreements with partners and others.

Jerry obtained his BA degree from Boston College in 1977 and his JD degree from University of San Francisco in 1980. He has a masters degree (LLM) in taxation from Golden Gate University. He taught law at San Francisco Law School and has written numerous articles. Jerry is a member of the Orange County Bar Association.

Warner Broaddus

Warner Broaddus was Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated from 2001-2007. Prior to joining Ligand, Mr. Broaddus served as General Counsel and Secretary of Invitrogen Corporation, a biotechnology reagents & equipment maker, where he was employed from October 1994 to November 2000. In these capacities he had overall responsibility for the company's legal affairs, including intellectual property, corporate and securities matters, litigation, compliance and corporate governance. From 1986 to 1990, Mr. Broaddus was an analyst for Morgan Stanley & Co. and UBS Securities, Inc. (now UBS Warburg).

Mr. Broaddus holds a J.D. from the University of San Diego and a B.S. (computer science) from the University of Virginia.

Alan Gutterman

Alan is a well known and widely respected business counselor to small and large businesses, entrepreneurs and investors. He received his law degree from Boalt Hall at the University of California at Berkeley and has also earned a PhD from the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. He has been a partner and senior counsel at internationally recognized law firms where he specialized in general corporate and securities matters, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, international law and transactions, strategic business alliances, technology transfers and intellectual property. He has also served as the chief legal officer of a leading international distributor of IT products headquartered in Silicon Valley.

Alan is the author of Business Transactions Solutions, the top-selling resource for transactional attorneys available through Thomson Reuters. Alan has also authored a number of other books and articles on various topics including intellectual property, financing start-ups, counseling emerging companies, online business activities and international transactions. Alan has academic training in business management—an M.B.A. degree, with a specialization in finance, from the University of California at Berkeley and a D.B.A. degree from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. In addition, he has had "on the ground" experience managing an emerging business as the chief operating officer of a broadband media company.

Ramona Petersen

Ramona Petersen joined The General Counsel in February 2009, bringing with her several years of Corporate Counsel experience for companies such as K&N Engineering, Inc., Focus on the Family and Kustom Phinish, Inc. In addition, Ramona spent three years running the Benefits Department for the 17,000+ employees of the County of San Bernardino.

Recently, in addition to her corporate counsel responsibilities, Ramona served as CEO for a design/finish carpentry business. She believes this experience was invaluable in teaching her all aspects of running a small corporation. She not only served as a member of the executive team but also directed the marketing and business development activities of the company and worked with all levels of employees. Ramona took the construction experience she gained from those years and now serves as an adjunct professor in the Construction Technology Department at Fullerton College, teaching Business Administration and Construction License Law.

After graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice from Chapman University, Ramona earned her JD degree at Western State University College of Law in 1997 and in 2004 earned a CEBS (Certified Employee Benefits Specialist), Retirement Plans Associate and Group Benefits Associate Designation from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the current President and co-founder of the Venus Elite Network for Professional Women, a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the In-house Counsel Committee of the Intellectual Property Section of the California Bar Association. She is also a past mentor for Volunteers in Parole, a group that matches attorneys with women reentering society upon being paroled.

Michael Leb

Michael Leb has broad and deep experience both as a litigator and transactional lawyer. His “hands on” litigation experience includes both trials and appellate advocacy in state and federal court in employment, trade secret, intellectual property matters and all manner of business disputes. . He has supervised and directed the work of outside counsel including non-U.S. counsel in litigation and other matters. Michael’s transactional experience includes mergers and acquisitions, public company reporting and compliance, finance, real estate, and government contracts. He has conducted due diligence on scores of acquisitions. Michael has negotiated and reviewed all types of commercial agreements and other documents used in accomplishing the diverse business objectives of companies ranging from start ups to Fortune 50 corporations. He has developed and/or implemented regulatory compliance and training programs for retail, manufacturing, distribution and sales employees on a broad spectrum of legal issues. Michael has also conducted and supervised investigations of employee complaints and alleged criminal conduct. He has prepared and/or delivered presentations to Boards of Directors.

In addition to his legal background, Michael is currently the President of Hytone International Foods, LLC, a company he founded, and a member of the Board of Directors of Trade Technologies, Inc., based in Austin, Texas. Michael previously held the position Senior Vice President – Corporate Human Resources for Wal-Mart. Prior to that, Michael served in two senior executive positions at Safeway. He was Safeway’s Vice President of Labor Relations for several years before moving into operations as the Vice President of Manufacturing overseeing the company’s 44-plant, private-label manufacturing division. Michael is a cum laude graduate of Yale University and the University of Michigan Law School. Michael lives in Pasadena, California with his wife, Nancy Hytone Leb, and beagle, Otis “My Man” Leb.

Contact us about your legal matter today!