Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, she worked at Hospira Australia (which was subsequently acquired by Pfizer in 2015) and as a senior associate at Clayton Utz in mergers and acquisitions and corporate advisory.

Ms Carter has experience in legal and compliance advice, contract negotiation, strategic leadership, stakeholder management, team and budget management, and managing complex integration projects, along with leading legal negotiations for business deals, integrating assets following business transformation and acquisitions, and advising on complex compliance issues to manage risk within organisations.

Speaking to Lawyers Weekly, Ms Carter described how she happened into the pharmaceutical industry and why providing it with legal support is imperative, why she derives satisfaction in her role as an in-house lawyer, and how being her authentic self has produced positive outcomes for the business.

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What excites you about being an in-house commercial lawyer and compliance lead at Bristol-Myers Squibb?

I love being part of the wider strategy of the business across all of our areas, including oncology, haematology, cardiology, dermatology and immunology. The knowledge that you are assisting patients to receive treatment brings real meaning to the legal and compliance support we provide to our business daily.

You’re involved in some pretty complex aspects of the law. What excites you the most about these areas?

I am most passionate about management and strategic leadership. As a people person, and someone who loves being a team player, I get huge satisfaction from developing my team’s skills and experience and potential on a daily basis – and a win for one of us is a win for all. Getting to play a part in leading and shaping the business is incredible, especially in an industry like healthcare that touches the lives of every Australian every day.

What led you to focus on these aspects of the law? 

I used to work in mergers and acquisitions, but I found I also really enjoyed continuing to interact with the businesses and providing corporate legal advice to companies after the deals were done. This led me down a path of becoming a corporate lawyer in-house for clients, and I found I really loved the focus of supporting the business operations and strategies on a daily basis.

What sparked your interest in the pharmaceutical industry?

I fell into the pharma industry by accident. I had just finished a big acquisition deal and taken myself off on a skiing holiday in Italy, and when I came back, there was an opportunity to do a secondment at Mayne Group Limited, which had just finished acquiring FH Faulding & Co. They needed extra legal support for the acquired business while they integrated the new assets. As a result, I was thrown into the world of pharma – and never looked back.

I found that I enjoyed the clinical aspects of getting medicines to patients and the challenges of the legal regulation in the pharma industry. Although I remained in the mergers and acquisitions area for some time, I found myself working more and more on healthcare industry mergers and acquisitions and legal advice. I eventually took a role with Mayne Pharma when it was spun out of Mayne Group Limited. I have worked in several pharma organisations, and the passion for helping patients and the intellectual challenges of such a complex industry have remained strong to this day.

Why is it important right now to provide legal support and compliance advice to pharma companies? 

The pharma space is evolving and innovating quickly, and the legal and compliance environment is changing daily – so it remains critical to continue to support and advise our pharma businesses to navigate the complexities of that global and local legal and compliance framework in which we operate to produce ethical outcomes for patients and the public.

What constitutes success for you as an in-house lawyer? 

Finding solutions to complex legal or compliance challenges which allow our business to grow and to innovate but in a manner that meets our regulatory expectations. I hate saying a basic “no” to anything. There is usually a solution to be found to address the business needs.

What challenges have you faced in your career?

One of the biggest challenges has been the fact that my personality does not seem like a typical lawyer personality, which is often commented upon in meetings and workplaces. I think many people define a typical lawyer personality as very quiet and dry and serious – and potentially very strict with everyone about the issue under discussion. My personality deviates by (allegedly) being very bubbly and flamboyant and personable – so I am always smiling and laughing in meetings. And dressing flamboyantly to match my personality! I love to be the jokester in the room (when appropriate) and to undertake some comedic sparring with meeting attendees – which is often not what people expect from the lead lawyer in the room. Showing your big personality does not, of course, prevent assessment of all of the legal issues and serious advice being provided, but again often people don’t associate lawyers with inter-personal bantering and laughter.

How has this impacted your career progress?

I have had discussions with other lawyers (especially female lawyers) who also have “big” personalities, and in comparing notes, we have often commented that being a non-typical lawyer personality can potentially hinder your career – you almost need to appear deadly serious to be taken seriously. At times, there is also an unconscious bias from anyone recruiting for roles and considering you for promotions to choose people like themselves. If there is a serious dry lawyer making the decision as to who to promote or hire, then sometimes, they can unconsciously choose that typical lawyer personality for the role. It was sometimes a challenge to demonstrate that you can still be a great lawyer, or give relevant legal advice, even if you don’t seem like a typical lawyer.

Another challenge was to resist the urge to suppress my natural personality to seem more “lawyer-like”. It takes a lot of energy to try to be someone who is different to who you really are.

How did you overcome this bias to succeed in your career?

I have found that being 100 per cent my authentic self is the most successful way to produce the best results every day of my working life, and the best use of my energy to get to great outcomes for the business. I believe I reached a place where I could embrace my authentic self through the support of my amazing legal peers (especially my close cohort of female law girlfriends who came through Clayton Utz with me), who had my back every day and encouraged me to be my own self without compromise, and to succeed on any legal challenge thrown my way. We have always encouraged, mentored, and backed each other daily as a group and having that support gave us all the confidence to be absolutely our own people and to achieve more and more every day.

I am also really lucky that at Bristol Myers Squibb, my colleagues equally embrace my non-legal personality and encourage us all to spend our energy on patients and best outcomes rather than being anything other than authentic.

What opportunities do you see for other lawyers (including new and young lawyers) entering your field and wanting to work as an in-house lawyer? 

As the complexity of our industry increases, I can see we will have an increasing need for in-house lawyers every day. I think there will be some great opportunities for new and young lawyers to work in this space. The pandemic has demonstrated the criticality of health and the challenges of getting medicines to everyone who needs them, and lawyers are a critical aspect to achieving health outcomes in the right way. 

What guidance/tips would you have for other young lawyers coming through the ranks and facing/overcoming challenges? 

Be yourself, and don’t be afraid to express your views in the room – you almost always have something valuable to contribute.

What new exciting developments are on the horizon in your field of law? 

Medicines and research are evolving and progressing at a rate never known before. As new pipelines of medicines come through, one of the biggest challenges will be evolving our government regulatory landscape to keep up with the innovation rate.

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