MARGARET M. CASSIDY, ESQ. CURRICULUM VITAE
Professional Summary
Margaret M. Cassidy is an experienced compliance and ethics attorney and current Chair of the American Bar Associations Business Law Section Corporate Compliance Committee. Margaret has advised and represented companies through mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, prime-subcontractor relationships; and in internal investigations, government investigations and government audits when working internationally and when working with the U.S. Federal Government to include defense and intelligence contractors. She has worked with organizations to develop ethics and compliance programs and to identify and comply with U.S. defense and intelligence laws and regulations such as the NISPOM, FAR, DFAR as well as with anti-corruption laws, trade sanctions, and know your business partner requirements.
Cassidy Law PLLC, 2012-present
Founder and Principal
- Counsels organizations, boards, and executive teams on establishing and improving corporate ethics and compliance programs to include: advising and counseling executive teams and boards; training executive teams, boards and employees; developing policies, developing and implementing procedures and internal controls; identifying and mitigating legal, compliance, ethical and reputational risks.
- Conduct internal investigations and represents businesses and individuals in government investigations.
- Advises federal government contractors, to include defense and intelligence contractors on FAR, DFAR, NISPOM and CFIUS
- Edited and Authored: The Lawyer’s Corporate Social Responsibility Deskbook, ABA Publication, Sept. 2019, Co-Editors Alan Gutterman, Margaret M. Cassidy, Travis Miller and Ashley Walter, Authored chapters on developing and ethics and compliance program and on working with governments.
- Featured in the ABA Journal, April 2019, Robert, A., Members Who Inspire, Margaret M. Cassidy founded a group to connect and boost female lawyers
Representative Matters
- Advise global publicly traded company on improving and enhancing its ethics and compliance program
- Advised and trained the board of directors and leadership of a U.S. defense contractor under federal investigation on identifying and mitigating legal, compliance, ethical and reputational risks; advised and collaborated with organization to build sound compliance, ethics, and governance practices; advised on FAR and DFAR.
- Advised and trained leadership of international professional services organization with defense and intelligence government contracts that had recently acquired a new business on identifying compliance and reputational risks when working with governments, advised on NISPOM, FAR, DFAR.
- Trained international non-governmental organization’s leadership team and employees on ethics and compliance
- Advised and trained a publicly traded U.S. defense contractor manufacturing and selling product globally identifying and mitigating legal, compliance, ethical and reputational risks; advised and collaborated client to build sound compliance, ethics, and governance practices focused on working internationally and working with U.S. defense and intelligence community; advised on NISPOM, FAR, DFAR, CFIUS
- Advised non-U.S. defense contractor interested in developing a U.S. defense business on U.S. defense requirements, NISPOM, FAR and DFAR
- Performed due diligence in an acquisition focusing on NISPOM, FAR, DFAR and CFIUS risks and advised acquiring defense contractor on target defense contractor’s legal compliance.
Professional Activities
- Chair, American Bar Association Business Law Section Corporate Compliance Committee, Sept. 2017 – Present, Vice-Chair, 2016-2017
- Member D.C. Board of Professional Responsibility, Appointed to the Board by the D.C. Court of Appeals, Sept. 2019 - Present
- ABA Advisor to the Uniform Law Commission on Pretrial Detention, 2018 - Present
- Elected Co-Chair D.C. Bar Law Practice Management Community, Sept. 2017 - Present
- ABA Business Law Section, International Coordinating Committee, Program Sub-Committee Co-Chair, 2018 - Present
- Appointed Hearing Officer for the D.C. Board of Professional Responsibility, 2014-2019
- Adjunct Faculty, George Washington University School of Law, 2014 - 2019
- Co-Chair Global Issues Forum, Association of Corporate Counsel National Capital Region Chapter, 2010-2012
Select Speaking
- Advising Clients on Developing and Executing a Corporate Compliance Program, panelist and course creator, Washington D.C. Bar, Dec. 2016, Dec. 2017, Dec. 2018, Feb. 2020
- Don’t Let Lack of Compliance Derail Your Startup: Practical Approaches to Compliance & Ethics, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Meeting, Sept. 2019
- Developing and Improving a Corporate Social Responsibility Program, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Meeting, Sept. 2019
- Classified Contracts: Facility Clearance Requirements, presenter and course creator, Schaus and Associates Seminar, April 2019
- Creating and Maintaining and Ethical Culture in Your Organization, panelist, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, July 2018, July 2019
- Ethical Considerations When Counseling a Client Through Crisis, panelist, ABA Business Law In the Know Webinar, Dec. 2017
- Inspector General Whistleblower Investigations – How They Work & How to Manage, presenter and course creator, CLEESQ, Feb 2019
- OTA, Doing Business with DoD and the Intel Community, presenter and course creator, Virginia PTAC, Nov. 2018
- Managing Government and Internal Investigations, panelist and course creator, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Nov. 2018
- Ethics and Compliance Forum, Leader and Facilitator, Today’s General Counsel, April 2016 - October 2018
- Best Practices in Managing Ethical Obligations While Advising Clients on Political Risk, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Meeting, Sept. 2018
- Ethical Considerations When Counseling the Corporate Client, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Annual Meeting, Sept. 2018
- Managing Third Party & Supply Chain Risks When Working Internationally, presenter and course creator, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Assoc., Dec. 2017
- Whistleblowers: What Companies Should Be Doing Now, panelist, Corporate Counsel.Net, April 2017
- Working with the Federal Government,C. Procurement Technology Assistance Center Annual Forum, June 2016, May 2017
- Managing Third Party & Supply Chain Risks When Working Internationally, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Fall Meeting, Nov. 2017
- Conflicts of Interest Yours and Your Clients, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Annual Meeting Sept. 2017
- My Client Won’t Listen to Me! My Client Is Asking Me to Do What? Ethics Issues? Panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Fall Meeting, Nov. 2017
- Whistleblower Best Practices: What Do Compliance and Business Leaders Need to Know? Panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Fall Meeting, Nov. 2016
- Minimizing Third Party Risks with Compliance and Ethics Contract Clauses, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Annual Meeting Sept. 2016
- Managing Third Party Risk, panelist and course creator, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, June 2016; Nov. 2016
- Compliantly Working with Governments, panelist and course creator, Pennslyvania Bar Institute, Oct. 2016
- The Yates Memo – Its Impact and Practical Solutions, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Fall Meeting, Nov. 2015
- Risky Business Using Risk Assessments and Internal Controls to Mitigate Liability, panelist and course creator, ABA Business Law Fall Meeting, Sept. 2015
- Working with the Federal Government, panelist and course creator, Pennslyvania Bar Institute, Nov. 2015
- The Intersection of Corporate Governance and Criminal Law, panelist, DRI GECC, July 2014
- Legal Requirements for a Corporate Compliance and Ethics Program, panelist and course creator, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, annually 2009 - 2015
Select Writing
- ABA Business Law Today, Attorney-Client Privilege In Government and Congressional Investigations, January 2019, Margaret M. Cassidy, Laura K. Schwalbe, Angella Smith
- ABA Law Practice Today, Women Flying Solo, Feb. 2017, Margaret M. Cassidy and Sara Kropf
- ABA Corporate Compliance Newsletter, Minimizing Third Parties Risks with Compliance and Business Ethics Contract Clauses, Nov. 2016, Margaret M. Cassidy
- ABA Business Law Today, Practical Steps to Mitigate Corruption Risks in Hiring, June 2016, Margaret M. Cassidy and Bradley McAllister
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Washington DC
Government Ethics & Compliance Acting Leader, 2012-2014; Leader, 2010-2012; Senior Manager, 2008-2010
- Led the Firm’s government ethics and compliance programs for foreign, federal, state and local government operations as well as FCPA, trade controls compliance, DFAR and FAR compliance, national security compliance.
- Advised Firm leadership and business teams on complying with the FCPA; U.S. trade sanctions, OFAC, federal government contracting; ethics laws and regulations; national security laws and regulations: conflicts of interest; political activity; business courtesies; procurement integrity; and hiring from the government.
- Worked collaboratively across functional and business units to implement compliance programs, controls, policies, trainings and audits including “know your business partner” practices, trade sanctions, national security, anti-corruption and procurement laws and regulations.
- Member of Firm’s merger, acquisition, joint venture, third party due diligence team which reviewed, identified and mitigated legal risks, to include identifying ownership and control issues.
- Collaborated with Firm leaders to review government contracting opportunities for strategic fit and to identify and mitigate legal, compliance, ethical and business risks.
- Member of Firm’s Compliance Leadership Team that developed strategic ethics and compliance initiatives.
- Investigated and resolved internal compliance and ethics concerns.
- Interacted with government officials, as needed, on matters related to federal government contracting and trade compliance.
- Identified, developed and delivered training and communication on anti-corruption; False Claims Act; national security; political activity; ethics; conflicts of interests; and procurement laws and regulations.
- Developed and delivered training to executives, managers and employees on legal requirements of their work; compliance and ethics; governance; risk identification and risk management; conducting and finalizing internal investigations; to include an annual ethics and compliance training across the organization.
- Retained and supervised outside counsel as necessary to respond to specific regulatory and legal matters.
General Electric Co., Transportation Division, Erie, PA, 2007-2008
Global Compliance Counsel
- Led division’s global ethics and compliance program for international manufacturing unit with 9,000 employees, 60 global locations and 4 billion in revenue.
- Provided legal counsel to the division’s executive team in areas such as working with foreign and federal governments, anti-corruption laws, trade controls, conflicts of interest, political activity, and business courtesies.
- Created and led a cross-functional, global regulatory team that identified federal and international regulations that impacted the business; created a regulatory compliance structure and controls to monitor compliance. Chosen to present this structure at GE-wide session on regulatory compliance.
- Managed business’ third-party relationships and member of division’s M&A due diligence team; conducted due diligence on third parties and target businesses, to include identifying ownership and control.
- Investigated and resolved ethics and compliance concerns in U.S., Latin America, Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe.
- Established a global early warning system to identify emerging risks and worked with executive team to define strategic responses to identified risks.
- Initiated, built and led international trade control team that ensured compliance with trade control laws and rapid response to trade issues.
- Conducted business’ first comprehensive, global risk assessment and worked with subject matter experts to define and execute strategic and tactical plans to abate identified risks in trade controls, FCPA, business courtesies, antitrust, controllership, third-party relationships, intellectual property, and other risk areas.
- Developed and delivered training to executives, managers and employees on legal requirements of their work; compliance and ethics; governance; risk identification and risk management; conducting and finalizing internal investigations; to trainings across the global organization.
- Worked with GE’s government relations team on proposing legislation and on legislative advocacy.
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, Pittsburgh, PA, 2000-2007
Senior Deputy Attorney General
- Investigated and prosecuted complex cases in the areas of public corruption, ethics violations, embezzlement, securities fraud, bank fraud, homicides, assaults, theft and traffic offenses including high profile cases with extensive media coverage.
- Represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in a variety of criminal proceedings such as sentence hearings; suppression motions; evidentiary hearings; grand jury proceedings.
- Conducted a number of jury and non-jury trials, presented cases to the investigating grand jury, and negotiated plea agreements to include drafting pleadings, indictments, briefs, motions.
- Advised Attorney General on enforcement matters and legal strategy.
- Provided legal counsel on enforcement matters to securities commission, consumer protection agencies, ethics commission and auditor general.
- Appointed Special Assistant US Attorney, led inter-agency prosecution of multi-million dollar mortgage fraud case.
Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, Pittsburgh, PA, 1994-2000
Assistant District Attorney
- Investigated and prosecuted homicides, sexual assaults, child abuse, assaults, weapons violations, drug offenses, DUI, burglaries, thefts, fraud, and traffic offenses including high profile cases
- Tried in excess of 100 jury and nonjury trials and negotiated hundreds of plea agreements, to include drafting pleadings, complaints, briefs, motions.
- Represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in a variety of proceedings such as coroner’s inquests; competency hearings; and preliminary hearings.
- Advised and trained law enforcement officers on criminal law and criminal procedure.
- Member of Allegheny County Domestic Violence Task Force, a committee consisting of prosecutors, judges, law enforcement, and social service agencies formulating policies and procedures to address domestic violence in Allegheny County.
EDUCATION, BAR ADMISSIONS, and CLERKSHIP
- University of Pittsburgh Law School, D.; Miami University, B.S. Finance
- Admitted to Practice in: District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York
- Appellate Law Clerk, Ohio District Court of Appeals, Twelfth District