ABOUT
Margaret M. Cassidy is principal and founder of Cassidy Law. Margaret passionately believes that being good is good for business. Margaret works with organizations, to be good, particularly federal government contractors, by advising on their legal requirements and collaborating with them to strategically and tactically design, implement and improve legal, ethical, and governance programs.
Margaret focuses on advising clients as they interact with U.S. and non-U.S. governments in areas such as government procurement, supply chain, “know your business partner”, anti-corruption, ethics, conflict of interest, and national security laws. Margaret counsels clients on identifying and complying with the U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulations, Defense Acquisition Regulations, and export regulations. She works with businesses to manage foreign ownership, control and interest in compliance with the U.S. government’s processes and requirements related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, CFIUS.
Margaret also conducts internal investigations and represents U.S. and non-U.S. organizations when facing a government investigation, government audit, or suspension and debarment.
Prior to launching Cassidy Law, Margaret held positions as PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Government Ethics and Compliance Leader and GE Transportation’s Global Ethics & Compliance Counsel. At both organizations, she had compliance and ethics leadership responsibilities and worked closely with business leaders to develop proactive strategies designed to mitigate legal and reputational risks while supporting business goals and objectives. Having worked closely with businesses, she brings a practical business approach when advising her clients.
Earlier in her career she was both a local and state prosecutor and handled investigations and prosecutions involving fraud, public corruption and other crimes.
The American Bar Association named Margaret as one of eleven lawyers who inspired in 2019 for her work in starting and managing a group of women lawyer-entrepreneurs, the League of Women Lawyers.
Margaret speaks and writes regularly on issues lawyers and organizations face such as: developing ethics and compliance programs; managing through an organizational crisis; federal government contracting issues, and on third party and supply chain risk management. Margaret is co-editor and co-author of the ABA published book, The Corporate Social Responsibility Handbook, Practical Guidance for Corporate Counsel and Law Firms.
She is chair of the ABA Business Law Section Business Crimes and Corporate Compliance Committee and served as chair of this Committee in the past. She is on ABA Business Law Section’s Publications Board.
Margaret currently serves as a court-appointed member of the D.C. Board of Professional Responsibility, a position she was appointed to after serving for several years as a hearing officer conducting hearings on attorney discipline matters.
Margaret earned a B.S. in Finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and, after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, clerked for the Ohio Court of Appeals. She is a member of the Virginia, D.C., Ohio, Pennsylvania (inactive) and New York (inactive) bars. She lives in rural Virginia with her husband and works in DC and Virginia. In addition to lawyering, Margaret is a photographer and has had her photographs displayed professionally.
