Sharon Lamb
Practice Focus Area: Health and Life Sciences
Office: London
Years at Firm: 4
What is your favorite part about practicing health and life sciences law at McDermott?
This is an easy question to answer! McDermott has a truly international health and life sciences practice with talented lawyers with deep expertise across all disciplines around the world– our lawyers truly works together as an integrated team and share a collective enthusiasm and energy for advising our international clients in a way that helps them move their businesses forward. I feel really privileged to work with such dedicated and talented lawyers. Our practice is both regulatory and transactional, meaning we support our clients on cross border investments and acquisitions to expand their businesses but also on strategic and regulatory issues, such as licensing, collaborations, and market access. The pandemic has been challenging on many levels – working remotely has been just one part of that. But, on the other hand, the move to virtual meetings and ease of zoom calling has created even more cohesion across our international offices.
What is the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?
Our health and life sciences clients have been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 – whether that be providing care to patients or developing drugs and devices such as vaccines, and diagnostics. Many of their staff are experiencing burnout and recruitment and retention of high-quality teams remains an ongoing challenge across the world.
On the upside, the pandemic has also shone a light on the importance of innovation in healthcare, the need to invest in biosciences and the resilience of health and life sciences assets in the wider economy. That means that there is continued interest in this sector and acquisitions and investments in new technology is at an all-time high.
What kind of client work gets you most excited when it comes across your desk?
Our London health transactions practice, acting for private equity and international strategic investors means that we need to navigate complex regulatory and healthcare structuring issues, both in the UK market and internationally. That means our teams get to combine their expertise, often working at pace, to find the best deal structuring and regulatory solutions for our clients. It’s great to be working at the leading firm in this space.
What is the proudest moment of your career to date?
There are several transactional matters that have made me incredibly proud, including being part of some of the largest hospital and healthcare acquisitions in the UK as well as developing the hospital build program for NHS hospitals – the first telemedicine solution in the UK. I’ve been privileged to work not only with NHS and governmental organizations but also some of the largest international health and life sciences companies and private equity investors. That means I’ve had the opportunity to see multiple different perspectives and that helps to give really strategic advice on the expansion into new markets. That said, I am always most proud of developing and training young lawyers across our practice and helping them grow into the partners of the future.
If you were not a lawyer, what career would you pursue?
I find cooking for friends and family a great way to relax – I love making homemade jams and preserves and am always foisting jars of my latest creation on unwitting recipients. If I weren’t a lawyer, I’d love to have trained as a cook or to have my own range of sauces and chutneys.
