Cissy Squitieri
Paramus,NJ
Summary
Experienced in-house Corporate Paralegal supporting General Counsel and C-suite executives in legal and operational functions. Expertise in contract drafting, corporate governance, litigation support, data compliance, and trademark administration. Delivers reliable and confidential support in fast-paced legal environments.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
SENIOR CORPORATE PARALEGAL
Artisan Design Group, Inc.
Coppell, TX
03.2025 - Current
- Partner with General Counsel and Senior Litigation Counsel on litigation matters and high-priority corporate initiatives.
- Manage organization-wide litigation tracking, designing a system to enhance visibility and reporting.
- Track critical litigation deadlines, ensuring compliance with mediations, arbitrations, and court filings.
- Review and draft contracts and review corporate leases, identifying risks and preparing documents for execution.
- Maintain internal filing system for all legal matters, ensuring accuracy and efficient retrieval for legal team.
- Support billing team with legal invoice processing using Passport, reviewing for accuracy and compliance.
- Monitor and track insurance claims, subpoenas, and litigation hold notices to ensure proper handling, documentation, and organizational compliance.
- Serve as a cross-departmental legal resource, assisting 28 business units with contract questions, compliance issues, and general legal matters.
- Liaise with outside counsel to coordinate case updates, gather documentation, and maintain efficient communication between internal stakeholders and external legal teams.
- Contributed to corporate acquisition efforts by ensuring legal documents were current, organized, and prepared for due diligence review.
- Serve as a key point of contact between Artisan’s legal department and Lowe’s legal team, partnering directly with Lowe’s Assistant General Counsel to facilitate communication on business-unit issues, and providing insight into Artisan’s legal processes.
SENIOR CORPORATE PARALEGAL (contract role)
Veolia North America
Paramus, NJ
08.2024 - 03.2025
- Played a key role in organizing, structuring and optimizing the existing contract database repository to facilitate the migration to Conga, a contract management software system.
- Contributed to the development of a contract mapping system to enhance accessibility and usability for the General Counsel.
- Reviewed and categorized contracts, amendments and ancillary documents to improve accessibility and compliance.
- Assisted the Vice President of Data Privacy & Compliance in auditing approximately 300 vendors to ensure compliance with newly enacted data protection legislation.
- Verified that third-party suppliers executed Data Protection Agreements (DPAs) to meet regulatory requirements.
- Organized and maintained a tracking spreadsheet to monitor vendor compliance, contract status, and outstanding actions.
- Reviewed, assessed, and negotiated third-party supplier agreements and coordinated follow-ups to resolve discrepancies and ensure timely execution.
- Supported the Legal Operation team with the legal billing process using Legal Tracker software for a $30 million outside counsel legal budget.
- Reviewed invoices to ensure billable hours and expenses were accurately recorded and compliant with client agreements and billing guidelines.
- Resolved billing discrepancies with outside counsel, legal team and in-house attorneys.
- Liaised with Accounts Payable teams (SAP and S4 Hana and PeopleSoft) to ensure accurate accounting codes are applied and invoices are processed and paid timely.
- Assisted with preparing monthly accruals accurately.
EXECUTIVE PARALEGAL
RAB Lighting Inc.
New York, NY
03.2018 - 04.2024
- Annually drafted and coordinated Sales Representative Agreements and amendments for 30+ independent sales agencies, 100+ Non-Disclosure Agreements, 200+ rebate agreements and 15+ global purchasing agreements including agreements in the US, China, Thailand, Cambodia and Hong Kong.
- Drafted and finalized 200 service and consulting agreements across departments.
- Coordinated, proofread, assembled, notarized, organized, and finalized agreements and legal documents for execution by C-Level executives and General Counsel, ensuring compliance and accuracy.
- Streamlined workflow by maintaining electronic documents and enhancing legal shared drive, facilitating easier access and retrieval.
- Initiated and coordinated the use of a registered agent resulting in an efficient consolidation of U.S. representation to a single vendor.
- Drafted litigation holds, assisted with discovery and all other aspects of dispute resolution.
- Maintained corporate governance documents such as board minutes and resolutions.
- Supported patent committee by preparing and presenting 25+ patent-related decisions; updated company’s virtual patent marking website to reflect committee outcomes.
- Assisted trademark counsel with the gathering of specimens needed for trademark registration and renewals.
- Tracked and assisted outside counsel in obtaining assignments and declarations from inventors; determined and handled invention remuneration payments owed to inventors based in China.
- Supported the Human Resources department with confidential projects including drafting separation and severance agreements; assisted with separation agreements with severed employees.
CORPORATE PARALEGAL
Aerosoles
Edison, NJ
01.2006 - 01.2018
- Administered electronic contracts management system for over 300 material contracts and real estate leases for use by executives for decision-making.
- Identified key contract terms ensuring accurate reporting for executives and legal counsel for critical decision making in significant restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, and finance matters.
- Coordinated, proofread, assembled, notarized, organized and finalized legal documents for execution by General Counsel.
- Coordinated document production for litigation matters by liaising with record custodians and counsel.
- Prepared corporate resolutions and maintained secretarial documents for 6 legal entities allowing for organized access to secretarial documents when needed.
- Drafted letters to exercise legal rights, including options to renew, contract terminations, and demands for payments.
- Developed organized electronic file structure to improve document accessibility and accuracy to enhance document accessibility and accuracy
- Processed invoices for up to 12 outside law firms with a budget of $350,000 in annual legal fees. Reviewed invoices and identified any discrepancies.
- Prepared financial logs to track performance against legal department budget, cash flow forecasts, and accrual of legal expenses.
- Gathered marketing evidence for trademark registration, renewal, and opposition globally. Examined thousands of shoe names and designs to help identify potential infringement liability.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Teaneck, NJCertificate of Completion - Paralegal Studies
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Teaneck, NJSkills
- Outstanding organizational, time-management, prioritization and communication skills
- Dependable with a strong work ethic, easily adaptable and excellent attention to detail
- Ability to effectively interact with C-level executives, attorneys and other departments at all levels
- A proven ability to work independently or part of a team
- Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint & Outlook, Google Workspace
- Proficient in Legal Tracker, PASSPORT, Timeslips, Docusign software
- Data privacy and cyber security (collectively, "data protection") knowledge
- Responsible AI use; Chat GBT
Affiliations
- Legal Assistants Association of America
- Eastern Bergen County Board of Realtors
Websites
Certification
- New Jersey Notary Public
- New Jersey Real Estate Broker Salesperson License
Hobbies and Interests
- Travel
- Fitness
- Dog Rescue Volunteer, including fostering dogs awaiting their new homes.
Timeline
SENIOR CORPORATE PARALEGAL
Artisan Design Group, Inc.
03.2025 - Current
SENIOR CORPORATE PARALEGAL (contract role)
Veolia North America
08.2024 - 03.2025
EXECUTIVE PARALEGAL
RAB Lighting Inc.
03.2018 - 04.2024
CORPORATE PARALEGAL
Aerosoles
01.2006 - 01.2018
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Certificate of Completion - Paralegal Studies
Fairleigh Dickinson University