Michelle S. DiCintio

Michelle DiCintio is a partner in PLG's Washington, DC office and firmwide Co-Chair of the Corporate Practice Group and a member of the firm’s Government Contracts Practice Group. With more than 25 years of experience in both large corporations and top-tier law firms, she is a results-driven, collaborative advisor with broad corporate, government contracts and transactional background.  Michelle has extensive experience in merger, acquisition and divestiture transactions – acting as legal counsel for over 100 M&A and divestiture transactions with an aggregate value of over $8 billion.  She also has expertise in advising companies, boards, and senior management on commercial transactions, corporate governance and compliance issues, with particular depth in the government contracting and professional services sectors. 

In addition to working in top-tier law firms, she spent over a decade in senior legal roles at Serco and General Dynamics. Michelle was the SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Serco, a government contractor serving the federal IT market, where she managed the company’s legal, compliance, ethics and defense security functions.  Prior to Serco, she was VP and Associate General Counsel at General Dynamics where she managed more than 50 M&A transactions, as well as corporate governance and compliance matters. 

This corporate experience sets her apart, giving her a unique understanding of, and insight into, the issues, challenges, and general day-to-day business operations of companies, allowing her to provide clients with not only legal guidance, but also practical business-oriented solutions that drive value and minimize risk for clients. 

Michelle is a frequent presenter for training programs sponsored by the Veteran Institute for Procurement (VIP), the national program that prepares veteran-owned small businesses to compete in federal contracting, and she speaks regularly on M&A for government contractors.

Representative Experience

• Serves as lead counsel to buyers and sellers (primarily in the government contracting industry) in M&A and divestiture transactions, including recent sale of a national security contractor to a private equity (PE) sponsor and the sale of a federal government contractor to a PE-backed strategic buyer through an auction process. 
• Routinely advise companies on entity formation, operating and shareholder agreements and corporate governance. 
• Structure and negotiate management buy-outs (MBOs), redemption of owners and business “divorces.” 
• Prepare and negotiate teaming agreements, subcontracts, joint ventures and novation agreements. 
• Advise clients on federal procurement laws and regulations, including small-business set-aside programs. 
• Represent individuals and companies in employment and severance negotiations, at the executive level and in connection with M&A transactions.