Case Study - Clinical Stage Biopharmaceutical Company

The Client

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company

The Challenge

Our client, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, was not at the point financially or from a headcount standpoint where a large legal and/or compliance team was justified. As a result of this, the overworked general counsel, the sole member of the client’s legal/compliance team, triaged much of the company’s legal work to a network of outside law firms. While the general counsel appreciated the excellent advice and responsiveness provided by his AmLaw 100 law firms, he knew that this model was not sustainable in terms of financial cost. He needed to ensure that the company’s legal work was accomplished in a thoughtful and financially efficient manner, but he was not in place to make a permanent hire.

Utilizing his general counsel network, the client spoke with colleagues to discuss solutions for his dilemma. One colleague who had worked with Major, Lindsey & Africa’s Interim Legal Talent team in the past suggested that the client consider us. 

The Solution

Based on his friend’s suggestion, the client called Interim Legal Talent and relayed his issue: He needed to get the work accomplished in a thoughtful manner but could not continue to pay outside counsel rates. Asking the client pointed questions and walking through his needs, the Interim Legal Talent team diagnosed the client’s need, presented potential solutions and candidate phenotypes to fill that need, and benchmarked the costs for the use of an interim transactional attorney and a contract to hire paralegal.

Following that diagnostic call, Interim Legal Talent presented slates of interim transactional attorneys and paralegals within one week. Our client hired one of each and, after just four months, converted both to permanent employees. 

The Results

By using interim legal talent, the client was able to hire the right consultants to complete the necessary work at a fraction of the cost of outside counsel. As the company grows and gains FDA approvals, they will continue to rely on our interim resources to fit the ebb and flow of their business needs.

This company has since been using our resource on a full-time basis to support its M&A group. They have also asked us to assist them with finding a labor and employment attorney.