Attorneys

Giovanni M. Ruscitti is one of the founding members of Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti, LLP. Mr. Ruscitti is equally comfortable in the courtroom as in the boardroom, and regularly serves as lead transactional and litigation counsel. This broad range of experience allows Mr. Ruscitti to provide BHGR's clients comprehensive, strategic, innovative and cost-effective counsel. His practice focuses primarily on complex commercial litigation/arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, construction law, and intellectual property law. Prior to forming BHGR, he was an attorney with the international law firm of Popham, Haik, Schnobrich & Kaufman, Ltd.

While Mr. Ruscitti has provided counsel in many business-related areas, he is particularly focused on planning, documenting and completing corporate and commercial transactions including completing various commercial agreements such as master services agreements, sales and commission agreements, professional service agreements, statements of work, teaming agreements, licensing agreements, joint venture agreements, and franchise agreements across a broad range of industries, including construction, emerging growth, manufacturing, medical, nutrition, development, telecommunications, technology, professional services, mining and real estate. To that end, Mr. Ruscitti routinely advises clients on organizing and planning business entities, mergers and acquisitions, structuring strategic alliances, structuring commercial and intellectual property transactions, and creating and protecting trade secrets and other intellectual property rights. Mr. Ruscitti also represents privately held companies in connection with private placements, financing alternatives, including secured and unsecured credit facilities and debt or equity offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. In addition, he has developed and implemented various exit strategies enabling clients to monetize their investments, including mergers and divestitures, and has implemented various corporate restructurings, reorganizations, and recapitalizations. His clients include individuals, entrepreneurs, emerging growth companies, banks, and local, national and international companies.

Mr. Ruscitti has litigated a number of cases to successful results, including jury and bench trials and arbitrations before the American Arbitration Association on a broad range of complex commercial, construction/surety, and civil cases, including litigation involving management and corporate control issues, mergers and acquisitions, construction defects and delays, surety disputes, intellectual property, trade secrets, mining, contract disputes, derivative actions involving fiduciary duty claims, ERISA and withdrawal liability, employment agreements, covenants not to compete, fraud, financial transactions and insurance coverage disputes. Mr. Ruscitti also has extensive experience in handling preliminary injunctions and other injunctive relief hearings, arbitrations, and mediation. Mr. Ruscitti has handled matters in Colorado, California, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio and Wyoming.

In real estate, Mr. Ruscitti has represented real estate developers and owners on a wide variety of legal matters, including acquisitions, 1031 exchanges, structuring of transactions, construction, financing, leasing, zoning, land use, and due diligence issues.

Finally, in the bankruptcy area, Mr. Ruscitti has a wide variety of experience in complex Chapter 11 reorganization cases. He has worked on several major bankruptcy proceedings on behalf of debtors, creditors, creditors' committees and trustees.

Mr. Ruscitti was born in Longmont, Colorado. He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Colorado in 1989, and an M.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Colorado - Graduate School of Business in 1993. As an M.B.A. student, Mr. Ruscitti served as a Research Assistant in the Business Economics and Public Policy Department. Mr. Ruscitti received his Juris Doctor from the University of Denver - College of Law in 1993, and in 2002 served as a judicial intern to Judge Donald E. Cordova of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado.

Mr. Ruscitti is a member of the Boulder, Denver, Colorado and American Bar Associations, and is a member of the Torts and Insurance, Business, Litigation, and Bankruptcy Sections of the ABA. Mr. Ruscitti is also a member of the American Trial Lawyers Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute. A frequent speaker, Mr. Ruscitti is a contributing author of the Law and Economics sections in Economics (Byrns and Stone, Fifth Edition, 1992), and has authored Liability of Surety for Loan to Principal from Estate, The Law of Probate Bonds (William A. Downing and Jeffrey M. Franks, editors 2001), Good Faith and Fair Dealing - Rocky Mountain Handbook (1997) and Construction Delays - Proving and Pricing Claims (2003). Mr. Ruscitti serves on the Board of Directors of the Monarch Little League and the Boulder Buff Club, and is a member of the Legal Aid Foundation Boulder Campaign Committee. He also serves as the 10th Circuit Editor for the ABA Case Commentary Committee. Mr. Ruscitti is also recognized by Cambridge Who's Who.

Mr. Ruscitti lives outside of Boulder with his wife of 16 years, Aggie Ruscitti, and their three children, Dante, Donato and Izabella (and dog Hank). He enjoys spending time with his family, Italian wines, coaching youth sports, fly fishing, hunting, camping, and playing basketball and ice hockey.