About Speaker

Mr. Shapiro has been deeply involved in clearance of foreign investment in sensitive United States companies throughout his career. Mr. Shapiro regularly assists both US target businesses and foreign acquirers in obtaining CFIUS approval for their transactions, both by presenting to the government the characteristics of the parties and the transaction to support deal clearance, and by structuring governance arrangements (including mitigation agreements of various kinds) to satisfy conditions imposed by CFIUS. He is also deeply experienced in post-closing counseling to ensure that the twin needs of compliance and efficiency are met on an ongoing basis. Relatedly, Mr. Shapiro regularly assists businesses that contract with the United States government and require security clearance to do so—including those who sell supplies and services to the US military—to maintain the highest levels of security clearance following foreign acquisition of control. He has helped them by advocating transaction clearance to Department of Defense and other clearance authorities, structuring corporate governance agreements that permit the private parties to comply with US government requirements in a way that meets their business needs, and implementing these agreements successfully. He has also assisted cleared contractors in their response to investigations of compliance with the conditions of their clearance. From 1986-88, Mr. Shapiro was Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Defense (Legal Counsel), where he and his staff were responsible for advising on, among other matters, defense industrial security matters and special investigations.