The U.S. Legal Support management team holds an impressive amount of experience spanning the business management & consulting, law, finance, accounting and sales industries. Our senior staff members possess high levels of specialized expertise and are actively involved in various legal associations across the country.
Charles F. Schugart
President & CEO – U.S. Legal Support
Charles F. Schugart serves as President & Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Legal Support, Inc., the industry leader in litigation support services, which includes Nationwide Court Reporting, Nationwide Record Retrieval & Legal Placement and Staffing.
Prior to joining U.S. Legal Support in 2004, Charles spent 13 successful years in public accounting with companies such as Arthur Andersen, Innovative Valve Technologies, and Growth Capital Partners, serving as a business advisor, consultant and auditor to these and other numerous companies in challenging situations. Charles earned his BBA in Accounting from the University of Kansas. He currently resides in Bellaire, TX with his wife Sherri and their 4 children.
James Bruni
Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing – U.S. Legal Support
James Bruni is the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for U.S. Legal Support and based at the corporate offices in Houston, TX.
James is a graduate of Auburn University and started his career with Ernst & Young as an Audit professional. He soon moved into sales at The Matthew Bender Company where he was a Sales Representative for two years and then was promoted to Regional Sales Manager. Within a year, James led the Southeast Region from the worst region to the top region at Matthew Bender. As Regional Sales Manager, James’ regions exceeded plan each year and he was awarded the highest manager award of President Club each year.
In 1998 Matthew Bender was acquired by LexisNexis and at that time James was promoted to the Director of Sales of the Midwest Market. Under James’ leadership the Midwest market led all of LexisNexis in total revenue attainment and new sales growth for five years in a row.
He was then promoted to Market Vice President for the Eastern U.S. legal market. He held this position for 6 years and grew his market’s total revenue from $100m to just over $165m.
James has one son, Ryan.
Gayle Hardison
Vice President Human Resources – U.S. Legal Support
Gayle joined U. S. Legal Support in 2006 after relocating to Houston from Chicago.
While in Chicago, Gayle was a Sr. HR Business Partner for a $1.6 billion division of Sara Lee Corporation in Schaumburg, IL for three years. Prior to Sara Lee, she was with a Fortune 500 specialty chemical manufacturer for 17 years in a variety of corporate HR roles. During that time she also led the Change Leadership, Training and Communication team for a global ERP implementation and was Global Project Manager for an HR system implementation.
A graduate of Indiana State University, Gayle is a certified executive coach and a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP).
Pete Giammanco
Division President – Western Region
Director of Court Reporting
Pete Giammanco serves as both President of the California Court Reporting Division, as well as Director of Court Reporting Operations nationally for U.S Legal Support. His responsibilities nationally include working with the other division presidents to ensure a ”National Presence – Local Expertise” experience for our clients.
In addition, he is responsible for overseeing the U.S. Legal Offices of the west coast, managing the reporting of a multitude of litigation matters including highly complex, multi-jurisdictional matters (including national and international), construction defect, intellectual property, entertainment, and high-profile litigation, all with an aim of utilizing technology to enhance the client experience.
Pete began his career as a Certified Shorthand Reporter and Certified Professional Reporter in 1985. In 1987 he founded G &G Court Reporters, a boutique court reporting firm serving the reporting needs of top tier law firms throughout Southern California. In 1997, he sold his company to U.S. Legal Support and has stayed on serving in various Senior Level positions.
Pete is also a Certified Real-Time Reporter as well as a Certified LiveNote Reporter. He is active in the legal community as a member of the California Shorthand Reporters Association, the National Court Reporters Association, DRI, and a proud sponsor of US LAW. Pete resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 3 children.
Jim Cunningham
Division President – Midwest Region
Director of Record Retrieval
Jim Cunningham is the Division President for U.S. Legal Support in Illinois. With over 1,000 current customers, U.S. Legal Support is the premier record retrieval and court reporting business in the Midwest.
Jim has 15 years of experience in the legal industry. He has extensive knowledge of the legal outsourcing arena with special focus on litigation support including electronic discovery. Prior to U.S. Legal, Jim has held a number of senior level positions in sales and operations for two global outsourcing companies, IKON and Williams Lea.
Jim is a graduate of Northern Illinois University. He resides in the Chicago area with his wife and two children
Lee Ann Watson
Division President – Southwest Region
Lee Ann Watson serves as Division President U.S. Legal Support’s Texas Records and Reporting Division, based in Houston, Texas, and is responsible for 6 offices that service the state of Texas and Florida.
Lee Ann has 20 years of service and sales experience in outsourcing solutions. Prior to U.S. Legal Support, Lee Ann worked at Administaff for 13 years in both operations and sales.
Lee Ann is active in Defense Research Institute DRI, US Law, Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Harris Martin Conferences and other local legal organizations.
Tom Esposito
Division President – Northeast Region
Division President Tom Esposito brings over eighteen years of experience to U.S. Legal Support and is responsible for the operational and sales activities within the New York court reporting and litigation support market.
Tom’s experience has concentrated on branch operations, sales, and the implementation of added value partnerships for fortune 500 companies. Tom has implemented major Partnership Programs with such companies as General Electric, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pitney Bowes, Home Depot, and Computer Associates to name just a few. Tom has extensive experience in litigation which includes running and managing court reporting and legal staffing operation in major litigation markets in the United States. Tom has managed major discovery projects and multi-district litigation, which has comprised of document review and deposition handling in the states as well as internationally for major cases, firms and corporations.
Tom is past Vice President of ARMA International’s Stamford Connecticut chapter.
Michael Klein
Division President – Southeast Region
Michael serves as president of U.S. Legal Support’s Florida division, located in Miami, and supervises over 250 court reporters and 40 staff members. Upon completing his college education, Michael further attended school to become a court reporter. After working as a reporter for 5 years, he opened his own firm specializing in the reporting of medical malpractice and other complex litigation. Under his leadership, as both owner and sales person, he grew that business to become the largest court reporting group in the United States owned by one person. Many of his innovative ideas changed the industry. In 1998 Michael sold his business to U.S. Legal Support. Michael currently resides in Coconut Grove, Florida, with his wife Marina and three children.
Laurie Becker
Division President – E.P. Dine, Inc..
Laurie Becker, the President of E.P. Dine Inc., has been with the firm since 1991. Ms. Becker’s practice focuses on general counsel and deputy general counsel searches as well as partner placements.
Laurie received her A.B. in 1977 from Washington University and her J.D., Cum Laude, in 1980 from Boston University School of Law. Ms. Becker began her legal career as a corporate lawyer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo in Boston. From 1984 to 1991, she was the General Counsel of Unicorp American Corporation in New York City.
Peter Sattin
Division President – Litigation & Trial Consulting Division
Peter Sattin is Division President of U.S. Legal Support’s Litigation and Trial Consulting Division, based in New York.
Peter previously was President of Array Technology Group, which was acquired in 2009 by U.S. Legal Support. He was a founding partner of Array, which began 25 years ago providing programming, litigation and computer network services to law firms in and around New York City. Array expanded its business, incorporating trial consulting and ESI services to law firms, corporate law departments and federal, state and local government agencies throughout the United States, as well as working with clients in Europe and the Far East.
Peter graduated from Southampton University in England, and has lived in New York since moving to the United States in 1980.