Eli Lilly hires next general counsel

Anat Hakim will join Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company on February 3 as senior vice president and general counsel. She is succeeding Michael Harrington, who is retiring at the end of this week.

Hakim is moving to Lilly having spent more than three years at WellCare Health Plans, where she has been executive vice president, general counsel and secretary. Before joining WellCare, she worked as divisional vice president and associate general counsel for intellectual property litigation at Abbott Laboratories, and later as the company’s divisional vice president and associate general counsel for litigation. 

Hakim started her career at Latham Watkins, before spending 12 years at Foley & Lardner as a partner.

‘I am excited to welcome Anat to Lilly as our new general counsel,’ says David Ricks, company chair and CEO, in a statement. ‘Anat’s legal expertise and prior experiences in the pharmaceutical industry, across healthcare more broadly and as general counsel at WellCare Health Plans, make her the ideal person to lead Lilly’s law division. I look forward to the external perspective and informed legal opinion she will bring to our executive team as we continue to progress our innovation-based strategy and develop new medicines for patients around the world.

‘I want to take this opportunity to again thank Mike Harrington for his significant contributions throughout his time at Lilly. Over the past eight years, Mike has very successfully led our legal organization and was a great partner to me and the Lilly board of directors. We are grateful for his leadership and wish him well in this next chapter of his life.’