About

1. ‘As a young lawyer, Lori Schechter’s career ambitions did not include becoming general counsel of a Fortune 500 company. She spent many years as a well-respected lawyer in private practice at the top of her field, including a term as chair of the 500-lawyer litigation department of an international law firm. When recruited to lead litigation at McKesson Corporation, however, she decided to take the leap, and was appointed the company’s top lawyer soon afterwards. As she has discovered, the general counsel role has provided a unique platform to impact the way corporations contribute to society. Why did Schechter join McKesson after many years in private practice? While the company’s size and reach are certainly impressive, it was McKesson’s values that attracted her. At every level, McKesson’s people are guided by their ICARE shared principles (integrity, customer-first, accountability, respect, and excellence), which tightly align with Schechter’s personal values. As general counsel, Schechter was committed to leading her team guided by ICARE values. She sought to create a general counsel organisation that serves as a strategic and trusted advisor in driving and delivering value for McKesson, for the healthcare system and beyond, while minimising and managing legal risk, and quickly engaged her team in this vision. Every day, in small and large ways, Schechter reminds her team of its mission. One opportunity was the company’s decision to sue the State of Arkansas in 2017 over its plan to use medications secured from McKesson for a slate of executions. Arkansas represented that it had ordered these drugs for medical purposes not related to lethal injection. Although other companies had voiced concerns about Arkansas’s intended use of these drugs, McKesson filed a lawsuit on the first-ever asserted grounds that state officials had allegedly obtained these drugs by deceptive means. McKesson’s response to the national opioid crisis presented another opportunity to further ICARE values. Schechter oversaw the development of an internal task force charged with analysing the complex issues inherent in the crisis. The task force drew on the expertise of Schechter’s compliance, legal, and public affairs teams and sought input from McKesson’s business units and other stakeholders. Schechter ensured that the task force’s report considered all viewpoints and went beyond what was expected. After delivering two white papers with policy recommendations, Schechter and her team helped McKesson create a stand-alone foundation to drive meaningful solutions to fight the epidemic with a $100m contribution from the company. Schechter currently serves on the board of this newly created Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE). Schechter believes that all employees should have an opportunity to help bring McKesson’s ICARE values to life. That’s why she recently launched a pro bono and volunteer programme, which enables employees to give back to their communities through volunteer and legal support to those in need. Programme participants can also enhance professional skills, work together, and further their commitment to ICARE –and the positive role corporations can play in society’. 2. ‘Lori Schechter is one of the most innovative general counsels in the country. Serving as executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer of McKesson Corporation, she’s responsible for overseeing the legal, public affairs, compliance and corporate secretarial functions for McKesson and its subsidiaries. Schechter’s vision is for McKesson’s legal team to be trusted advisors who help the business mitigate and manage legal, reputational and competitive risks arising from existing and proposed laws and regulations. She wants the team to be viewed as active and strategic partners in driving and delivering value for McKesson. To help maintain and enhance McKesson’s market leadership, upon becoming general counsel, Schechter immediately began implementing processes to improve the efficiency of the legal department. An example is her work regarding McKesson’s government contracts. She formed a government contract task force, bringing together expertise from the law and compliance teams with representatives from the areas of the business with government contracting relationships’.