Mr. Putnam is a senior partner at Monteleone & McCrory, LLP, where he heads the corporate, tax, and estate planning division of the firm. As both an attorney and certified public accountant, Mr. Putnam specializes in general business and corporate law, real estate, taxation, and estate planning matters.
Since joining the firm in 1980, Mr. Putnam has specialized in business, real estate and tax matters, corporate governance, business formation (including corporations, partnerships, LLC’s and LLP’s), joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions and dissolutions (an area in which he has one of the leading published cases in California), employment law (where he has developed substantial expertise in counseling employers in a variety of employment related matters), unfair competition/trade secrets, complex real property transactions, construction (with particular expertise in the field of the construction of sports stadiums and arenas, including ADA issues), estate planning, and regulatory matters. Mr. Putnam serves as general counsel for many small to medium-sized corporations based throughout the United States, as well as several foreign companies.
Mr. Putnam is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in California, as well as the United States Tax Court and United States Court of Federal Claims. Mr. Putnam serves as a settlement officer at the United States Tax Court, where he has vast experience in handling estate, gift and income tax matters, and also serves as a Judge Pro Tem in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Active in numerous professional and civic organizations, Mr. Putnam is currently on the South Pasadena City Council (where he has served as both Mayor Pro Tem and as Mayor).
Mr. Putnam is past president of the Wilshire Bar Association and has served on its Board of Governors for many years. Having served on various committees of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, he is currently on the State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee.
Mr. Putnam is a member of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses® Association, USC Legion Lex, the American Bar Association, the Illinois C.P.A. Society, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and has served on the USC Athletics Board of Counselors.
Mr. Putnam obtained his undergraduate degree (with honors) in accounting from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1977. He went on to earn his law degree in 1980 from USC. While at USC, Mr. Putnam received numerous honors and awards in both law and accounting. He has lectured on taxation for the California State C.P.A. Society, and is a frequent lecturer for numerous other organizations in the fields of employment law and estate planning.