Novartis AG announced on Friday that its Global Head of Litigation, Thomas Kendris, will succeed outgoing Chief Legal Officer Shannon Thyme Klinger on an interim basis. Moderna Inc., which has been busy hiring legal, compliance and regulatory experts in recent months to launch a popular — and lucrative — Covid-19 vaccine, confirmed that its attorney, Lori Henderson, is preparing to retire this year. Novartis` new interim general counsel, Kendris, who currently serves as U.S. president, global head of litigation and president of Novartis Corp., did not respond to a request for comment when asked about Klinger`s future plans. Klinger was Director of Ethics, Risk and Compliance and Head of Litigation at Novartis, a position she held in May 2016 after serving as Global Head of General Legal and Legal Affairs for the company`s Sandoz generics business. Novartis said in a statement Friday that it had “launched an executive search process to evaluate internal and external candidates for the position of general counsel.” Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan praised Klinger in a statement for his “leadership, guidance and impact on our business over the past 10 years.” He said Klinger has created “one of the most respected legal departments in the industry, not least for its commitment to diversity and inclusion.” He spent more than two decades at Novartis where he held various legal and leadership positions. In 2016, Kendris publicly supported the merger of Arnold & Porter and Kaye Scholer. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer is one of 22 firms that make up Novartis` preferred legal advisory board. Ray Jordan, director of corporate affairs at Moderna in Cambridge, Massachusetts, declined to discuss whether Klinger would be an ideal candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant position of chief counsel. Cohen received $1.2 million in payments from Novartis, which appointed Klaus Moosmayer as head of ethics, risk and compliance in late 2018 as part of a legal and compliance review by the Basel, Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company. Novartis promoted Klinger to his top legal position nearly three years ago following the resignation of the group`s former general counsel, Felix Ehrat, who resigned following the disclosure of a consulting contract he had approved with Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump`s former personal adviser. At least one former in-house Novartis lawyer recently joined Moderna. Lisa Kinsella, senior legal counsel at Novartis, joined Moderna`s European headquarters in Basel last fall as deputy general counsel.

In September, Novartis and Swiss rival Roche Holding AG were fined a total of $524 million by French regulators, accusing both companies of restricting competition for eye treatments. The average salary for a legal adviser is £77,679 per year in the UK, 29% more than Novartis` average salary of £60,000 per year for this position. During his tenure as Novartis` senior counsel, Klinger, a former partner at Alston & Bird and Mayer Brown, implemented a program that committed the firm`s 22 “preferred” external law firms to commit to various staffing goals. His move is the latest in a series of back-and-forth moves by legal department heads working for biotech startups, drug developers and medical device manufacturers. The healthcare, life sciences and pharmaceutical sectors have been busy hiring lawyers over the past year, in part due to increased demands placed on some companies due to the coronavirus pandemic. Novartis is not the only major pharmaceutical company to lose its leading lawyer in a robust market for the development and commercialization of new drugs, products and treatments. Novartis, which agreed in December to pay $770 million to acquire privately held U.S. drug developer Cadent Therapeutics Inc., has recently continued production of therapies to treat the coronavirus. That portfolio would include a $195 million settlement by Sandoz last year on drug pricing in the U.S., a $347 million settlement for a U.S. foreign corruption investigation, and the $678 million settlement of a U.S.

corruption case with doctors that resulted in a $109.4 million whistleblower award. Novartis announced in February 2020 that it would withhold 15% of its group of external vendors` total billing, unless those companies spend 30% of employees` billable time and 20% of partners` time on women, people of various races and ethnicities, or members of the LGBTQ community. The company agreed in January to help Pfizer Inc. and its German joint venture partner BioNTech SE ramp up production of their Covid-19 vaccine. Novartis this month signed a separate agreement with German pharmaceutical company CureVac NV for mass production of a Covid-19 vaccine, expected this summer. Check out the latest legal counsel jobs or look at legal counsel`s salaries at other companies. See if they hire! Check out the latest salaries of Novartis legal counsel Jobs at Novartis can range from £57,839 to £62,523. This estimate is based on 1 salary report from Novartis` legal counsel provided by employees or estimated using statistical methods. Look at all the salaries of legal advisors to see how it performs in the market.

The company praised Kendris` 25 years of experience in its various business areas, noting that it was responsible for “significant litigation and investigations around the world.” What exactly does £57,839 – £62,523 look like for you? Novartis said in a statement that Klinger will leave the Swiss pharmaceutical giant on March 15 to return to the United States. and take a job at “a biotech company.” Novartis did not identify the company and declined to discuss Klinger`s new role. Klinger did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. In an interview with Legal Week, a UK trade magazine, Klinger said that last year, 49% of partners and 68% of partners working on Novartis cases met the various criteria. It noted that Novartis has not yet had to withhold any company`s expenses.