Joseph LaRosa has thought a lot lately about both leading and lawyering under pressure. 

Joe is General Counsel of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which has been going full-bore for more than a year as it developed, tested and sought approval for its now-famous antibody cocktail for treating COVID. 

 
He and his team have had to be more than just lawyers for the company, as he told Ken Banta in a recent conversation. “It’s the kind of situation where we are partners with the businesspeople, partners with the development and research folks,” he said, “because you couldn't get from a standing start to an EUA drug in 10 months without a huge collaboration among all the functions within the company.”

A company’s top lawyer needs more than just great legal skills, Joe tells Ken, especially when the pressure’s on.

Are you comfortable working in ambiguity? Are you comfortable not being everybody's best friend, because decisions have to be made that don't often sit well with certain people? Do you have the ability to build teams and, very importantly, can you build the trust of people — you have to have trust in your people, but they have to have trust in you. Can the board see you as a person with utmost integrity who can lead the organization?

— Joseph LaRosa, EVP and General Counsel, Regeneron

And he’s come to see that kind of breadth as crucial at every level of his department.

What we try to do now is, [essentially,] create an opportunity for everybody in my department to become a general counsel. We focus quite a lot on cross training and cross development, moving people between departments, because we want them to have a multi-dimensional view of the company and the industry… You create a great experience for them, and the added benefit that the company now has more multi-dimensional lawyers who are able to deliver more. I think the days of being just a lawyer with one bullet skill should be over: Broader skills with more experiences, and more opportunity for growth, is where we should be.

— Joseph LaRosa

To see highlights from Ken and Joe’s conversation, check out the video below.