Margaret M. Cassidy, Esq.

Margaret Cassidy is principal and founder of Cassidy Law.  Margaret advises organizations to strategically and tactically design, implement and improve legal, ethical, 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 on U.S. corruption laws like the FCPA.  She works with businesses to manage foreign ownership, control and interest (FOCI) in compliance with the U.S. government’s processes and requirements related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, CFIUS as well as with national security laws like the NISPOM.

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, compliance and social responsibility programs; managing through an organizational crisis; 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 the immediate past-chair of the ABA Business Law Section Corporate Compliance Committee and is on the 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 D.C., Ohio, Pennsylvania (inactive0 and New York (inactive) bars.  She lives in the DC area with her husband, but regularly voyages to Ohio for business and to see family and friends.  In addition to lawyering, Margaret is a photographer and has had her photographs displayed professionally.

Representative Matters

  • Represented defense contractor in making disclosures to the Department of Defense on a DOJ criminal and civil corruption and false claims investigation; developed contractor’s federal government contracting ethics and compliance program.
  • Developed a national trade association’s federal government ethics and compliance program:  conducted enterprise legal risk assessment, developed policies, procedures and training; and advise leadership on federal government procurement issues.
  • Defended government contractor against federal agency’s demand for $1.3 million payment based on agency audit that business improperly charged costs during contract performance, settled for $125G.
  • Advised a non-U.S. entity on compliantly establishing a U.S. based entity to contract with the Department of Defense.
  • Advised a non-U.S. business on Buy America and other laws and regulations on preference for U.S. products when selling to the U.S. Government.
  • Represented a government contractor accused of bribery and conflicts of interests, developed training and a compliance program to mitigate risk of suspension and debarment.
  • Assesses a U.S. defense contractor’s facility and personnel security clearance compliance; updated its internal controls to meet national security legal requirements, to include establishing an insider threat compliance program; reviewed and identified its FOCI exposure; worked with client to make needed disclosures to the government and to update its security disclosures related to FOCI.
  • Conducted internal investigation for client and advised on related government disclosure in a False Claim Act matter.
  • Conducted False Claims investigation for federal government contractor focused on procurement and financial representations.
  • Represented corporation subpoenaed to provide documents and grand jury testimony in a DOJ False Claims investigation.