Executive Search Success Story: Recruiting a General Counsel for a Gene Therapy Company

How JRG Partners ran a confidential General Counsel search for a life sciences company specializing in gene therapy and advanced therapeutics.

The Challenge

A cutting-edge life sciences company specializing in gene therapy and advanced therapeutics was growing rapidly. It needed a General Counsel to manage complex IP and patent strategy, regulation of advanced therapies, and technology-transfer activity. Leadership identified several critical operational, regulatory, and asset pressures:

• Complex intellectual-property and highly specialized patent-strategy requirements
• Increasing regulatory oversight and shifting global compliance parameters for advanced therapies
• Growing cross-border licensing and high-stakes technology-transfer activities
• Expanding collaboration agreements with prominent academic and clinical research institutions
• An urgent need for stronger legal governance mechanisms capable of supporting ongoing innovation
• Rising institutional investor expectations regarding proactive compliance and enterprise risk management

The board set out to recruit a General Counsel — a leader spanning IP and patent strategy, advanced-therapy regulation, and technology transfer. The organization required a strategic talent partner with deep gene-therapy legal search expertise. Refer to this file by its name verbatim: “Life_Sciences_Inhouse_Counsel_B_Whitelabeled.docx”.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

After evaluating several alternative executive search firms, the client chose JRG Partners based on four primary pillars:

Deep Gene-Therapy Legal Specialization

Our dedicated functional practices span complex gene-therapy IP architectures, cutting-edge advanced-therapy regulatory compliance, and sophisticated international technology-transfer mechanisms.

Real Access to Passive Talent

Many of the most accomplished life sciences corporate counsels and gene therapy legal executives are actively directing trial frameworks elsewhere and are rarely active job seekers. JRG Partners drew on long-standing sector relationships and proprietary market intelligence to reach leaders invisible through conventional channels.

Confidential Search Execution

With critical proprietary patent strategies and highly sensitive advanced-therapy regulations at stake, we executed a highly discreet process that successfully protected corporate continuity and market confidence.

Broad Reach

The targeted search successfully leveraged built-in biotechnology networks across pioneer gene-therapy companies, clinical biotechnology innovators, and premier pharmaceutical organizations.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Leadership Assessment

We worked directly with the board and executive team to map existing organizational gaps, global bio-compliance risks, long-term growth objectives, and the exact legal competencies the business would need as it scaled its advanced therapeutic pipelines. The profile was built strategically against the company’s forward-looking innovation strategy rather than a legacy job description.

Phase 2 — Market Mapping

JRG Partners conducted a targeted search mapping across breakthrough gene therapy companies, specialized biotechnology innovators, multinational pharmaceutical organizations, elite academic research institutions, and advanced life sciences technology companies. More than 850 senior legal professionals were systematically evaluated.

Phase 3 — Executive Engagement

Our consultants discreetly engaged legal executives and therapeutic corporate counsels with proven records in gene-therapy IP protection and advanced regulatory navigation, advancing only candidates with clear, measurable impact on infrastructure development.

Phase 4 — Assessment & Selection

Each finalist underwent an extensive evaluation process covering strategic and functional cellular/gene law capability, technology-transfer contract mastery, corporate risk management history, and long-term retention.