Anisa Mohanty
Associate
Office: Washington, DC
Years at Firm: 3
What is your favorite part about practicing health care law at McDermott?
I started out pre-med in college, but I quickly realized what excited me was the intersection between science, medicine, policy and law. Many of our clients are at the forefront of shaping policy in the life sciences space through their innovations, and the quality of our health care practice means we have the opportunity to partner with and support them in really exciting projects. I am grateful for the breadth and depth of knowledge and experience of my colleagues—it pushes me to be a better, smarter and savvier lawyer.
What is the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?
Because our clients are addressing some of the most complex challenges in healthcare and healthcare delivery, often there aren’t straightforward regulatory paradigms for their businesses. Our clients want to do the right thing, but that can be challenging because their regulators haven’t yet articulated how they will enforce the law as it applies to their services and solutions. Digital health is a great example of this and there’s a lot of opportunity to advocate for our clients so that regulators can take industry perspectives into account when finalizing regulations.
What kind of client work gets you most excited when it comes across your desk?
I love when a client has a service or product under development that has real potential to address an unmet public health need. It goes without saying that the American healthcare system is incredibly complex, but if I’m doing my job well, piece-by-piece, I’m helping to untangle it so our clients can deliver meaningful therapies and solutions.
What is the proudest moment of your career to date?
Joining McDermott – I still pinch myself sometimes that I get to be a member of the industry’s leading healthcare team. There are smaller moments, when I am able to reflect on how much I’ve grown as a lawyer since I joined McDermott and the ways in which all the pieces of my past education and career to date fit into the bigger picture of where I am now. It’s also been immensely gratifying to have clients reach out to me to thank me for my work and tell me I’ve distilled a complex and complicated matter into something that helped them move forward in a practical way. The greatest joy is definitely knowing I was able to contribute to a client’s success in a meaningful way.
If you were not a lawyer, what career would you pursue?
If I could do anything, I would follow in the footsteps of Anthony Bourdain, traveling and documenting the world and the richness of people and cultures. Photography and cooking are my two main hobbies. More realistically, I would probably pursue something related to finance. I have been the volunteer treasurer or head of finance for at least a half dozen organizations – not all lawyers hate math! I think my job in retirement will be some hybrid of personal finance and personal organization services—helping people who feel in over their heads regain their confidence by helping them build a sense of calm around the few things in life we can control.
