Michèle Linde credits much of her success as a life sciences legal veteran to the good fortune of having had strong mentors, including her father. As a 5th generation pharmaceutical executive, Michèle’s exposure to the industry started long before she accepted her first position with DuPont Pharmaceuticals. “Growing up, dinnertime conversations revolved around my father sharing his work with us,” says Michèle; “we discussed everything from product launches to advertising and marketing strategy.”
Upon graduating from law school, Michèle cut her teeth as a prosecutor, serving as a deputy AG in Wilmington, Delaware. This role gave Michèle the opportunity to develop both her legal skills and confidence by learning to navigate the court system and the basics of litigation. Once she was ready to move on, Michèle naturally set her sights on joining the pharmaceutical industry. But, her father would recommend a different path in. “His exact words to me were – ‘you don’t know how to do anything practical– go learn to be a business person first’ – and so that’s what I did,” she explained, adding, “truthfully, I didn’t love his advice in that moment, but my dad was right – I simply didn’t know what I didn’t know at that point in my career.” Michèle accepted her first in-house position with a university technology transfer office, where she rose through the ranks to a director level role, managing the department and learning the business hands-on from the inside out, before eventually diving into the commercial world of big pharma.
Michèle’s career as a life sciences legal executive literally brought her around the globe, living and working in 4 different countries while serving as General Counsel (four times), as well as in private practice with the largest law firm in Scandinavia. With every role, her mentors would continue emphasizing the importance of being a business person first, and a lawyer second. Embracing this wisdom, Michèle led each legal function with strategic vision, prioritizing collaboration and cross-functional initiatives in alignment with larger corporate goals. “I did this by learning every product and every process – from early-stage discovery to launch – and developing a deep understanding of each function within the company to earn executive team buy-in.”
While at Endo Pharmaceuticals, Michèle’s work designing, leading and successfully implementing a cross functional initiative resulting in tremendous cost savings and increased efficiency for her company was recognized by industry leaders. In 2009, she received a Rising Star award from the International Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association for exemplifying leadership and dedication to the industry. Winning this award was a true career highlight for her, particularly since she was the first lawyer to ever win it. “The award typically went to business people in commercial functions and scientists, not GCs heading the so-called ‘sales prevention team’,” joked Michèle. “By partnering with each business function, and empowering their teams with templates, playbooks and training, our legal department was no longer viewed as the department of ‘no’ – but rather, as a critical strategic function helping to drive corporate goals. Today, this model has become the ‘state of play’ in many companies in the industry.”
Michèle landed at OGC after returning to the States, leaving behind a global executive GC position that included responsibility for health care compliance and talent management. “I was ready for work-life balance, but still had a great deal of corporate memory and industry acumen to leverage,” said Michèle. “I also love helping pharmaceutical companies balance global compliance with the energy and fast-paced multitude of initiatives required for successful product launches; and, as an OGC, I’m able to support a number of global clients simultaneously.” Michèle can flex her GC skill set of legal and compliance best practices to any client style, building relationships quickly because of her years working with different cultures and life sciences companies around the world, including several global giants. “I bring a different approach to my work, and my clients see me as both a lawyer and a business person. They know I’ve seen many complex issues before and trust that I will provide leadership and legal advice wherever it is most needed.” For Michèle, this is exactly what being a lawyer is all about.
More about Michèle Linde
Michèle works with a wide range of life sciences companies, including those in the cosmeceutical and champagne industries. In addition to her practice, she has served as OGC’s VP for Attorney Affairs, working with senior management on various initiatives, including drafting the firm’s policies and procedures. Michèle is also a regular contributor to OGC’s blog. She is a dedicated advocate for Save the Children International and voice for human trafficking issues. Michèle enjoys traveling, playing classical piano and the harp, and surfing off the crystal coast beaches.