Gregg R. Zegarelli, Esq. has enjoyed a distinguished career as an attorney, business professional, speaker and public servant. He has earned superb ratings that objectively demonstrate the ethical conduct and integrity in the practice of law.
Licenses; Academic Degree
Mr. Zegarelli has practiced law for more than 35 years and is admitted to practice law in Washington D.C., the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the State of Illinois. He is a graduate of Duquesne University with dual major areas of study in Accounting and History and dual minors in Philosophy and Political Science. Mr. Zegarelli is a graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law, and he is qualified to sit for the C.P.A. examination in Pennsylvania.
Legal Area of Concentration; Clients
Prior to establishing the law office of Zegarelli Law Group in July, 1990, Mr. Zegarelli was associated with one of the largest law firms in the City of Pittsburgh, concentrating in the corporate law and “emerging companies” section.
Mr. Zegarelli practices in transactional areas of law. Representation includes entrepreneurial ventures, commercial and corporate litigation, venture capital, franchising, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, wealth-transfer and succession planning, licensing of technology and information, employee and independent contractor agreements, and intellectual property matters such as copyright, social media, trade secret and trademark law.
Mr. Zegarelli serves as general corporate counsel for businesses ranging from the startup stage to large well-established enterprises. His client list includes “INC. 500” companies, and software developers with products nationally rated #1. Mr. Zegarelli has also been retained as special counsel for technology development contracts, such as for the automated parking facility at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Mr. Zegarelli has directly performed legal work and negotiated contracts with well-known companies including Acclaim, Borland, Coca-Cola, Disney, Ford, General , General Mills, Intel, Mattel, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Microsoft, NBC, Sony and Xerox.
Mr. Zegarelli has also earned a very unusual credential: not only does he have distinguished corporate law experience, but he also has strong litigation experience. Mr. Zegarelli has represented clients in Federal as well as state courts, and he has successfully litigated technology disputes with extremely complicated deliverable logistics. Mr. Zegarelli has litigated technology-related emergency injunctions and has worked with the FBI on technology investigations.
Mr. Zegarelli was lead counsel in Borings v. Google, the first case against Google and its Street View program for infringement, with a successful appellate overturn that resulted in the only known final judgment against Google as an intentional trespasser. [Read Preamble to Petition for U.S. Supreme Court Certiorari now.] In another ground-breaking case, Mr. Zegarelli was successful at the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board against Facebook, In re Facebook, in obtaining an overruling of Facebook’s motion to dismiss an opposition of Facebook’s application to register “Facebook” as a U.S. trademark.
Arbitrator / Mediator
Mr. Zegarelli has been selected and served several times as an Arbitrator (Judge), including for the American Arbitration Association for business and technology-related disputes, and has presided over more than 100 arbitrations in the largest insurance class action settlement in history. Mr. Zegarelli was appointed to the panel of neutrals for the United States Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel for two years prior to the statutory internalization. Mr. Zegarelli was appointed by the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to its panel of available neutrals as an Early Neutral Evaluator and as an Arbitrator.
Understanding of Entrepreneurship
Mr. Zegarelli has earned the right to advise clients on entrepreneurial ventures. Not only is he the founder and principal shareholder of the law office of Zegarelli Law Group, but he also serves on the Board of Directors of other businesses. Mr. Zegarelli advises as a doer, not merely a viewer.
Mr. Zegarelli has extensive experience in the computer industry from a technology perspective. Prior to entering the legal industry, he programmed computer software as a technology consultant, and he is the author of Ziata! software, which received 5-star ratings from various publishers, including nationally renowned Ziff-Davis. Because of his understanding of e-commerce, not merely from a legal perspective, but also from his first-hand experience with real-world implementation, Mr. Zegarelli provides his clients with significant assistance in planning and structuring their complex Internet and e-commerce transactions. Mr. Zegarelli’s experience with accounting provides the necessary foundation for understanding the details of structuring a complex e-commerce deal for the integration of new front-end website with a traditional back-end accounting system.
Speaking Engagements; Publications
Speaking Engagements; Publications
Mr. Zegarelli has enjoyed Adjunct Professorships in the Duquesne University Graduate Leadership Master Degree Program (The Leader as Entrepreneur; Developing Leadership Character Through Adversity) and the University of Pittsburgh Law School (The Anatomy of a Deal).
Mr. Zegarelli has been interviewed by television and Internet media, such as CBS-affiliate KDKA (Internet gambling), CNN (electronic privacy in the workplace), and USLive (getting inventions to market), and he is author of the article on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for the MacMillan (Gale Group) Encyclopedia (now available for download), and Current Technology Issues by the Ohio CPA Journal. In addition, Mr. Zegarelli has published several short articles on computer software protection techniques called “Legal LinksTM” (which are available online at www.tevlaw.com). Mr. Zegarelli also was interviewed by on TBC Today regarding entrepreneurism and the qualities of an entrepreneur and has appeared on Suzanne Caplan’s WMNY Pittsburgh Business Radio 1360 AM (simulcast on Talkshoe) discussing intellectual property issues and corporate ethics. He was a panelist with a group of social media gurus, The Social Media Balancing Act.
Mr. Zegarelli is a frequent lecturer for accredited continuing education series on technology, social media, entrepreneurship, law office management and intellectual property issues. He has the distinction of being a member of the faculty for attorney CLE provided by the National Business Institute (NBI), Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI), California University of Pennsylvania (CalU) and Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC).
Some of the many teaching conferences provided by Mr. Zegarelli include: Drafting LLC Agreements, Protecting Intellectual Property, Sarbanes-Oxley and Drafting LLC and LLP Agreements, Proving Your Case with Computer Forensics and Limited Liability Companies, Ethical Issues of Email, Attachments & Meta-Data, LLCs: From Formation to Special Uses, Business Contracts A-Z, Advanced Contract Law (NBI), Social Media Ethics (NBI), and Social Media in Law (PBI), Drafting Social Media Policies, Attorney’s Guide to Social Media: Understanding Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, a three-time CPE-accredited Class for CPA’s: Launching New Products and Services; Branding for CPA’s for accredited seminars attended by other attorneys and accountants for their continuing education, a double course on Social Media (morning) and Trademarks/Branding (afternoon) for CalU, What Legal Ethics and Social Media: What Attorneys Need to Know, West Simulcast, rebroadcast because of the excellent reviews, and Business Law Fundamentals; Attorney’s Guide to Social Media: Understanding Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, West Simulcast, rebroadcast because of the excellent reviews. Mr. Zegarelli joined a panel of social media gurus for The Social Media Balancing Act. Business Contracts from A to Z: What Paralegals Need to Know, and four-time CPE-accredited Class for CPA’s: Survey of Intellectual Property for accredited seminars for accountants for their continuing education. Ethics for Paralegals. A three-part series: Crowdfunding, Social Media Law, Trademarks and IP (CLE-CalU) for CalU. A series for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) for Accountants on Branding (CCAC). He has been a recurring speaker in New Orleans for the 3-day Cutting Edge seminar.
Mr. Zegarelli speaks frequently regarding issues of integration of social media policies into workplace environments. Additional upcoming speaking engagements and seminars are identified at the top of this page.
Mr. Zegarelli is Author ofThe Entrepreneurial Spirit® and is responsible for the compilation of the daily quotations and writing the “Why We Loved It” section, with distribution to thousands of readers each day!
Public Service, Etc.
Mr. Zegarelli also enjoys public service. Mr. Zegarelli began public service by being chosen for various elected offices while attending college, including the President of the Student Government Association of Duquesne University. At Duquesne University, Mr. Zegarelli enjoyed membership in various honor and leadership societies and was awarded the Outstanding Dedication and Service Award by his fellow students.
Following college, Mr. Zegarelli served his community as a Councilman in the Municipality of Penn Hills—which is second in population only to the City of Pittsburgh. Mr. Zegarelli was the youngest Councilman to ever be elected in that jurisdiction. With regard to that office, Mr. Zegarelli was concerned that public meetings were not satisfactorily “open” to the public, so he authored and published The Sunshine Act, which was republished by the Pittsburgh Legal Journal at 135 P.L.J. 39, 1988, and is the only article cited by the Pennsylvania Statutes (Purdon Supp. 65 P.S. § 271) on the issue of open meetings. Mr. Zegarelli was chosen by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette East Edition as one of five community persons identified as the “Ones to Watch in the 90’s.”
Mr. Zegarelli was appointed by the Executive Director of the Allegheny County Bar Association (“ACBA”) for two terms as the first Chairman of the ACBA Allegheny Lawyers Online program—the first telecommunications service to be sponsored by a local bar association. Mr. Zegarelli has been a member of the Innovation Works Investment Advisory Panel. He also serves on the Upper St. Clair Community Foundation, and the Zoning Hearing Board of Upper St. Clair. He recently had the pleasure of assisting on the Host Committee for the Entertainment Industries Council, Western Pennsylvania Media and Mental Health Awards. He is the son of Arnold (Ronald) Zegarelli and Dolores Zegarelli, husband of Jodi L. Zegarelli, and the father of Bria Zegarelli, Ella Zegarelli and Anna Zegarelli. He was a member of the California University of Pennsylvania Center for Innovation Startup Advisory Board.
Mr. Zegarelli is the author of ONE®, the Unified Gospel of Jesus, in which he has systematically unified the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John into one seamless text for study. He and his father, Arnold Zegarelli, co-authored, The Essential Aesop: For business, managers, writers and professional speakers.
Memberships
Mr. Zegarelli has enjoyed being a member of the District of Columbia, Illinois and Allegheny County Bar Associations, and serves or has served on various committees. He is admitted to the United States District Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated and selected to serve as a member of the Panel of Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association. Mr. Zegarelli is a member of the Duquesne University McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Alumni Advisory Committee, Chaired by the Dean of the College. He was a board member for many years of the MLR Charitable Foundation Advisory Board and the Zoning Hearing Board of Upper St. Clair. Mr. Zegarelli is listed in Who’s Who in Practicing Attorneys.
Mr. Zegarelli brings great depth of education and experience to his practice of law and business ventures, and he enjoys an excellent reputation in the community for his integrity, competency and dedication.
Gregg Zegarelli represents the entrepreneurial spirit.