2018 ACI Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law

Drinker Biddle's Pharma Life Sciences Industry Initiative co-sponsored the American Conference Institute’s (ACI) Fifth Annual Conference on Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law, held July 25–27 in Boston. The conference draws together successful women across legal sectors from industry, government and law firms to educate on developing best practices to achieve a thriving career in the life sciences legal community through substantive legal discussion, professional development, and woman-to-woman networking in a room filled with 200 attorneys that include general counsel, judges, partners, vice presidents, chief compliance officers and CEOs.

Drinker Biddle representatives Mercedes Meyer, Maureen Donahue Hardwick, Bronwen Loeb, Chrissy Piccolo and Lynne Anderson attended the conference. Mercedes spoke on a panel during the session “Tales from the Front Lines: Changing Negative Situations into Success Stories,” which focused on how to best address difficult situations, from mergers to harassment to firing, to achieve successful outcomes. Eve Costopoulos from Loeb & Loeb LLP; Tamara Joseph from Enzyvant; and Ailis Tweed-Kent, CEO and founder of Cocoon Biotech Inc., joined Mercedes in the session.

Following Mercedes’ session, Drinker Biddle hosted a dinner at Post 390 in Boston that was attended by 16 women – including a CEO and several general counsel – from the following companies and firms: Avanir Pharmaceutical, Cocoon Biotech Inc., CRISPR Therapeutics, Eli Lilly, HBSR, Immunogen, Ipsen Pharmaceuticals, Finnegan Henderson, Smart & Biggar, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The dinner featured a 90-minute interactive discussion led by Sara Laschever, co-author of Ask For It: How Women Can Use Negotiation to Get What They Really Want.