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Going Full-circle Johnson & Johnson Asia Pacific in-house counsel Felicity McDowell reflects on how she went from the boutique environment to the world’s biggest health care company: Johnson & Johnson (Asia Pacific)

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Australasian Legal Business ISSUE 7.1

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elicity McDowell has long had a burning passion for iconic brands, so it is hardly surprising that the acquisition of Pfizer Consumer Health Care by Johnson & Johnson in 2006, which has created the world’s biggest heath care company, has her abuzz with enthusiasm.

Johnson & Johnson, a longstanding super-brand established in 1881, counts products such as Johnson’s Baby brand, Neutrogena, Clean and Clear, Stay Free and Care Free as part of its growing legacy. The acquisition of Pfizer Consumer Health Care, however, has taken the company from strength to strength by adding Listerine, Codral, Benadryl, Sudafed, Zirtec and Nicorette to its portfolio of iconic healthcare brands – creating a A$61bn international business in the process.

“I had hoped to be working with iconic brands,” McDowell says. “If I had been able to dream about what I could achieve coming from a boutique ►►

Johnson & Johnson was founded more that 120 years ago by American Brother Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson on a revolutionary idea: Doctors and nurses should use sterile sutures, dressings and bandages to treat people’s wounds.

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firm, and where I would like to be – I am now in that spot.”

Destiny

McDowell is also a member of the company’s leadership team and she appears to have been destined to oversee the legal affairs of Johnson & Johnson. After years of advising clients on advertising and marketing matters in the boutique environment, and after a brief stint in Paris, she accepted a role in mid-tier firm Michell Sillar’s advertising and marketing group. Her new team subsequently moved to Corrs, where Johnson & Johnson became one of her prized clients.

“I didn’t directly action that [the move to Corrs] but I was delighted by it,” she admits, “because now I had the opportunity to get exposure to a different type of client. Now, the world immediately got bigger – it gave me wider scope for experience. It also gave me the chance to deal with clients across different industries – from financial to IT-related areas and so on.”

McDowell reflects on her boutique experience fondly and refers to it as a ‘gateway’ to enormous commercial opportunities for young aspiring lawyers seeking an alternative to the big firms.

“When you’re working with just one other lawyer, from day one, you need

to be very responsive, quick and decisive with your advice,” she says.

“So, by the time I went over to Corrs, I had already understood what clients were looking for from their lawyers, and developed the ability to communicate effectively and add value. I think that put me in great shape for the big firm environment because I’d had so many years of experience,” she adds.

Incidentally, one client who kept McDowell particularly busy during her tenure at Corrs was none other than her current employer, Johnson & Johnson.

“Essentially it was a very hands-on relationship. It was very close – and it was daily. I was effectively in-house counsel even at that stage,” she says, “but I was sitting at Corrs.”

Notwithstanding the quality of the work at Corrs and the strong relationship she developed with Johnson & Johnson, in 2005 McDowell opted for a change of pace. At Pfizer Consumer Health Care, she accepted her first in-house role and what happened next took everybody by surprise – including her.

The company was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and soon after, appointed its first Asia-Pacific inhouse counsel – Felicity McDowell.

“I worked with Johnson & Johnson for so many years [while at Corrs], I had insight into the company.

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In-house FEATURE | interview >>

Although I wasn’t in-house counsel, I was the next-best thing. I was in and out of Johnson & Johnson offices constantly, advising on new claims and matters such as competitive challenges, regulatory advice, reactive and/or proactive challenges, promotions, sponsorship agreements and so on. So when the new role was created after the acquisition, it was a natural fit,” she adds.

Relationship-building

McDowell considers that creating lasting relationships in the legal business and maintaining them is crucial. “It’s hugely important,” she states. “I can’t stress how important” In addition to her responsibility for the company’s legal affairs, McDowell is an integral part of the leadership team, putting her finance degree and commercial acumen to good use.

“We pride ourselves on our reputation because our brands are iconic. I sit with the business in the Asia-Pacific leadership team and work with them,” she explains. “I am part of the business and I also have the opportunity to work closely with our partners, to really understand what the business needs, what’s important, strategic directions – as well as have insight into the financials, to really see how you can add value to it all, which is superb.”

In spite of McDowell’s departure from Corrs, her relationship with that firm has never been stronger.

“I currently rely on Corrs as outside counsel, and now we are working together as a team because of the strength of those relationships. I see them as part of my team so it’s a partnership,” she says.

Indeed, the strength of the partnership between Corrs and Johnson & Johnson has strengthened over many years, and one person who seems to be central to this evolutionary process is McDowell.

Asked what the company’s goals are for 2009, she responds: “To advance the health and wellbeing of over one billion people every day, and to address their health needs from the moment they are born – and throughout their lives.”

This might sound like a big ask, but for Johnson & Johnson it is just business as usual. ALB 62

“I had hoped to be working with iconic brands.

If I had been able to dream about what I could achieve coming from a boutique firm, and where I would like to be – I am now in that spot” Australasian Legal Business ISSUE 7.1

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