Outsourced Counsel Services Team
About the Founders
Stuart Blake
Stuart Blake is the founder and Managing Principal of The General Counsel. Stuart is an attorney with over 25 years of in house corporate legal experience. Stuart has vast experience in consumer products industries, for which he has counseled on a wide variety of general business, commercial contracts, employment matters, litigation, mergers and acquisitions and corporate compliance and governance. He has a proven track record of forging successful working relationships with executive management teams.
Stuart was the Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Kinko’s, Inc. for five years, the Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Baskin-Robbins, USA, Co. for six years and previous to that Stuart spent six years with Burger King Corporation as Corporate Counsel and Senior Corporate Counsel.
Stuart currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Community Services Branch of the YMCA of Orange County and former served on the Board of Directors of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties and the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel -America (ACCA).
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Michael Oswald
Michael Oswald is the co-founder and a principal of The General Counsel. Michael is an attorney with over 20 years of in-house corporate legal and management experience. Michael has a broad range of experience in aerospace, construction consulting, and technology companies. Michael has counseled on a wide variety of general business, government contracts, commercial contracts, employment matters, litigation, mergers and acquisitions and corporate compliance and governance.
Michael was most recently Vice President and General Counsel of SRS Labs, Inc., a publicly traded developer and licensor of audio and voice technologies. Michael was previously the Vice President and General Counsel of Lantronix, Inc., a publicly traded provider of computer networking technologies.
Prior to his public company experience, Michael was a key management team member at two successive start-up technology companies. Michael was the General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer at NowDocs, Inc., of Aliso Viejo, CA. Before joining NowDocs, Michael was General Counsel at Acuity Corp. in Austin, TX. Michael held several management positions at SEMATECH, a semiconductor industry research and development consortium. Michael has also served as Assistant General Counsel of a government construction contracts consulting firm, and was a subcontract administrator at Lockheed and Ford Aerospace.
Michael is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Western State University College of Law, where he teaches business law courses. He also serves as Assistant Director of the school’s Business Law Center. Michael also serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel – America (ACCA).
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Bios for Other Principals of The General Counsel
Karen Tegger Ward
Karen Tegger 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.
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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.
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Gerald Bloch
Gerald (Jerry) Bloch, a Member of The General Counsel for over 3 years, brings 30 years of broad-based experience balanced between in-house and private practice. His in-house positions were with Wells Fargo Bank, The Grupe Company and Pacific Monarch Resorts where he was their first General Counsel. For the last 17 years, he has served as outside General Counsel for numerous other companies, including IndX Software, Magellan Software (later known as Gauss Interprise, now the Gauss Division of Open Text Corp), PowerDirect Marketing, Driessen Interior Aircraft Systems, Bionorica, Eurochem, Nexiant, Intersect Beverage (Azuńia Tequila), Innovation Spirits, StoragePro Self Storage, CyberianSoft and E2ManageTech.
He represents companies in (1) technology, including software developers and outsourced technology solutions providers, (2) real estate – developers, owners, lenders, contractors and other service providers, (3) product manufacturing and distribution/sales, (4) the alcoholic beverage industry, and (5) internet commerce.
His diverse range of skills includes forming and financing emerging companies, negotiating a variety of contract types, creative and early-stage dispute resolution and managing and solving human resource-related issues including workplace investigations and protection of trade secrets. In his representation of a number of US subsidiaries of off-shore companies, he has handled many cross-border issues.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Dana Newman
Dana Newman joined The General Counsel in November 2009. She is a seasoned business attorney with over 15 years of in-house legal experience. Dana has extensive expertise in negotiating and drafting complex commercial contracts, intellectual property licenses, corporate/company formation documents, asset purchase agreements, commercial real estate purchase and lease agreements, employment and labor agreements, and government contracts and bids. Dana has also managed an extensive intellectual property portfolio of trademarks and copyrights, and has written and edited a wide variety of business documents, including corporate and employment policies, software manuals, advertising materials, and RFP responses.
Dana worked as General Counsel and Secretary for Moviola, an entertainment technology industry leader with offices in Los Angeles and New York. She was a key management team member for Moviola and its affiliates (Paskal Lighting and Magnasync Corporation), where she advised senior management on all aspects of business and legal affairs, including contracts, human resources, insurance, intellectual property, corporate governance, and litigation management.
Dana graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in Comparative Literature in 1989, and completed her law degree at the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1993. She was an extern for Hon. Robert Takasugi in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. She has been involved in the Association of Corporate Counsel, the First AME Church/UCLA School of Law Community Legal Clinic, and the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles. Dana co-authored an article on copyright terminations, “Copyright Grants: as Powerful as Kryptonite?” which was published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal in September 2009.
Vincent J. Roth
Vincent J. Roth is a highly educated and very broadly experience corporate attorney.
Having provided legal services in the high-technology, healthcare, entertainment and real estate industries, Mr. Roth transitioned to the biotechnology industry in November 2004 working as General Counsel, Vice President of Human Resources and Assistant Secretary for CardioVascular BioTherapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded, development-stage biotechnology company and Phage Biotechnology Corporation, a private biotechnology contract manufacturer and thus is very familiar with highly regulated industries. Vincent currently serves as the dedicated, part-time General Counsel for a number of companies.
Before November 2004, Mr. Roth worked for Lantronix, Inc., a publicly traded device networking company in the high-technology industry where he served as Deputy General Counsel primarily handling corporate and securities matters. Prior to this, Mr. Roth served as General Counsel, Vice President and Secretary for Myrient, Inc., a publicly traded communications networking company in the high-technology industry where he managed the legal department and human resources department. In addition to transactional practice, Mr. Roth has litigation experience having served as counsel-of-record on over a dozen cases. He is a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel and is now a partner with The General Counsel, LLC, a collaborative group of corporate attorneys who serve as outsourced general counsels for start-up, young and developing companies.
Prior to practicing law, Mr. Roth worked in healthcare management, the last position of which was as Contract Administrator for a large medical group where he negotiated business deals and drafted contracts with healthcare providers in almost every medical specialty.
Mr. Roth received an LL.M. in Business and Corporate Law from the University of San Diego where he graduated #1 in his class, a Juris Doctor and M.B.A. from Temple University, a Master of Liberal Arts in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.B.A. in Marketing and Human Resource Administration from Temple University. In addition to these five (5) degrees, he was also awarded three (3) master certificates and is currently taking additional intellectual property coursework at the University of San Diego School of Law.
Claudia M. Morehead
Claudia M. Morehead is a California corporate attorney and advisor with over 30 years of experience assisting companies, businesses and organizations in the for profit and nonprofit sectors. She has represented a wide array of clients, ranging from large multi-national corporations to small family owned businesses. Most recently she has developed a vibrant nonprofit practice which includes religious organizations as well as private foundations, associations, and other tax exempt organizations.
Ms. Morehead spent 14 years in New York City serving for 2 years as Assistant General Counsel to Scor Reinsurance Company and for 7 years as Associate General Counsel to Munich American Reinsurance Company. In 1996 she became the general counsel of the CORE Group, a start-up group of five insurance and reinsurance companies funded by GE Capital and Employers Reinsurance Company. In 1999 she relocated to Southern California where she worked for several law firms including Bryan Cave LLP, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, and Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP.
Ms. Morehead’s practice focuses on five primary practice areas: Churches and Other Nonprofit Organizations;For Profit Corporations and Businesses;Reinsurance & Insurance Coverage;Litigation, Arbitration & Mediation; and Labor and Employment Law. Her broad experience in the reinsurance industry, where her responsibilities included structuring reinsurance transactions, drafting reinsurance contracts and providing counsel to the claims, marketing and human resources departments, has given her unique insight into all aspects of business law.
Ms. Morehead graduated from McGeorge School of Law in 1980, where she was a member of the Traynor Honor Society, and she obtained a B.S. degree in Business and Law from the University of the Pacific in 1976.
Claudia is the Vice Chair of the Nonprofit and Unincorporated Organizations Committee for the California State Bar. She is a former member of the Insurance Law Committee for the State Bar and is a member of Orange County Women Lawyers and California Women Lawyers.
Claudia is active in AYSO soccer, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts and lives with her husband and 3 children in Newport Beach, Ca.
Michael (“Mickey”) Green
Michael (“Mickey”) Green joined The General Counsel as a Principal in 2010. Mickey has been an attorney for almost 40 years, having practiced in government, private practice and corporate legal departments. Mickey has extensive experience in providing counsel on a broad range of legal matters, including Acquisitions and Divestitures, Antitrust, Bankruptcy, Commercial Transactions, Corporate Governance (including Sarbanes-Oxley, NYSE and NASDAQ Rules), Corporate Secretarial Functions, Debt Refinancing, Employment, Governmental Investigations, Litigation, Real Estate, Risk Management, SEC and other federal and state regulatory practice, Trademark and General Administrative duties.
Mickey was most recently the Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation for three years. Prior to that, he was the Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Worldwide Restaurant Concepts, Inc. for over eight years and Counsel for ARCO for almost fourteen years. Mickey was a Senior Attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Montgomery Ward & Company, an associate at a Washington, D.C. law firm and also a Trial Attorney in the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice. Mickey also served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mickey attained his J.D. from New York University in 1971 and his B.A. from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1967.
