Siavage Law Group

Michael R. Siavage is the Managing Partner of Siavage Law Group. Siavage has enjoyed a distinguished career in public service, private industry and private practice.

His practice focuses on the general counseling of emerging technology companies and investors. It includes venture capital and corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, commercialization of university intellectual property, banking transactions, intellectual property transactions including licensing, OEM, joint venture and development agreements, formation and structuring of new companies and strategic transactions, advice to public companies on growth and acquisition of growth companies, corporate disputes and investment fund creation and management.

Mike has participated in corporate transactions, representing both companies and investors, involving well over 100 emerging companies in connection with their A, B, C, and later venture capital investments and liquidity events.

A frequent lecturer and writer on subjects related to technology growth companies, Mike has lectured at numerous Atlanta locations and institutions including the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University, the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University, and the Tiger Program of Emory Law School and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has authored numerous articles and presentations, some of which are listed under the applicable section of this website.

Mike develops particularly strong bonds with all of the entrepreneurs who make up the client base of SLG and, relying on his substantial expertise as general counsel to large well-established companies, has guided numerous companies through the decision making that is required for the successful growth of the emerging company.

Upon graduation from law school, Mike completed a clerkship in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and became counsel to the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. He later became Chief Counsel and finally Executive Director of the Commission. He conducted extensive investigations into organized crime families in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia and completed a wide range of investigations that produced significant legislative results and attracted national news coverage. In addition, he undertook all of the State Commission of Investigation's litigation, acquiring a significant record of wins against organized crime. As Executive Director, Mike became the President of the National Organization of Investigational Divisions. In addition, Mike was a Commissioner of the New Jersey Commission on Catastrophic Injury in Children.

Subsequent to his public service, Mike became Vice President and General Counsel to Cunard Line, Ltd. in New York City, where he played a significant role on the team that structured and executed a plan to triple the size of the company in an eight-year period. He negotiated and executed most of the strategic transactions that effectuated that expansion. During his tenure at Cunard Line, he also had chief responsibility for information systems and human resources. He led a team that redesigned and installed a new reservation system for Cunard Line which, at the time, leap-frogged all of the current technology in that area.

After leaving Cunard Line, Mike became General Counsel to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey. After a short period, he became Executive Vice President and General Counsel of this four thousand employee, four hundred million dollar company. As a result, he undertook chief responsibility for information systems, managing over eight hundred technical employees in operations and development, and human resources, which comprised a unit of over one hundred human resources professionals. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of three of Blue Cross and Blue Shield's subsidiaries, including a third-party administration company. While at Blue Cross and Blue Shield, he designed and oversaw the installation of an eighty million dollar claims processing system that was the first of its kind to employ Optical Character Recognition technology.

After leaving Blue Cross, Mike became Vice President and General Counsel to the American Ship Building Company in Tampa, Florida. Again, he served in the role of Chief of Human Resources and Information Systems Officer, and worked closely with George Steinbrenner, then Chairman of the company.

Mike was one of the original founders of Red Hot Law Group in Atlanta, a boutique law firm dedicated to the counseling of emerging technology companies. In 2001, Red Hot Law Group merged with McKenna, Long, and Aldridge, a large Atlanta law firm, and Mike took on the role of Partner in charge of the firm's Emerging Growth and Technology group. In 2004, he founded Siavage Law Group in order to serve the specialized interests of emerging technology companies.

Mike has two daughters, Maren and Allison. He enjoys running, fly-fishing, trekking, and golf. In July of 2003, he summited Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.