About

From 1977 to 1986 Karen Linehan served on the congressional staff for the Speaker of the US House of Representatives. She then moved to work as an associate at a firm in New York until 1991, after which she joined Sanofi as assistant general counsel in the US. Linehan was called upon to handle international matters in Paris in 1996 and has remained in France ever since, supporting the multinational pharamceutical company. Acting as the executive vice president of legal affairs and general counsel since 2007, Linehan oversees legal in the over 100 countries that Sanofi operates in. When asked what she enjoys most about her role she points to ‘managing an engaged and global team’. Running the department in three groups (legal, intellectual property and compliance), Linehan recently introduced a new position in the legal chain with the role of solely handing transversal projects of a non-legal nature. These include IT tools training and budgeting, amongst others, needed to increase efficiency in legal and to accommodate the growth of the company, including the increased work done in-house. Linehan displays quick reactions to constantly adapting the legal department. With a legal career of over 25 years, sources praise Linehan for her successes in numerous outcomes of patent litigations, arbitration and mergers and acquisitions.