CVS Health is leading the charge against the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The company, which acquired health insurance giant Aetna last year, depends on GC Thomas Moriarty for its legal needs as he also holds down the executive vice president and the chief policy and external affairs officer positions.

Corporate Counsel interviewed Moriarty at the height of the pandemic, and he told us how his company is faring under the massive pressure of consumer demand.

CVS recently opened three drive-thru rapid COVID-19 testing centers in Rhode Island, where the company is headquartered; Massachusetts and Georgia, using the rapid test that received emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As widespread accessible testing remains an issue across the country, CVS plans to open more testing centers soon.

Serving 38 million people through health insurance plans and 102 million members through its pharmacy benefit manager, CVS operates 9,900 retail locations, including 1,100 walk-in medical clinics. Moriarty said having the clinics and the nurse practitioners already employed allows CVS to do 1,000 COVID-19 tests a day.

Viewed as a very essential business in the health care industry, Moriarty said supply chain concerns have arisen in his recent work. Though the N95 respirators stole the spotlight a few weeks ago, there are shortages of other products that have been recommended to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"There have been spot outages of sanitizing products and wipes," he told Corporate Counsel. "We are seeing more continuity of supply as we work through this around safety and other issues to ease billing requirements and ease payment-related issues. It takes an enterprise effort, and I have been heartened with how our supplier and customer base have been working together during this time."

How is your legal department handling the high demand of your company's services or products amid the coronavirus crisis? Please let me know at [email protected].

"I would have expected that lawyers were well prepared, but I was pleased to see how very well prepared law departments reported being… My feeling is that whether looking at supply chain challenges or force majeure clauses in contracts or advising on employment issues, general counsel stand ready to support their companies through these very challenging times."

Veta Richardson, president and CEO of the Association of Corporate Counsel, told Corporate Counsel about the global in-house bar group's latest flash survey on how legal departments are being impacted so far by COVID-19.

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What's Happening

Surviving COVID-19

Walter Lamkin, the top lawyer for real estate developer DCM Group in St. Louis, has survived COVID-19. After going on a ski trip in Colorado with a group of friends, he said he was about to travel again but didn't feel well. Then he received an email from Colorado health officials that he may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Now, he's on a mission to inspire other survivors to donate plasma in order to assist researchers in developing a vaccine. He tells Corporate Counsel about his ordeal of testing positive for COVID-19, isolating himself away from the other eight family members in his home, and what's life like after having the coronavirus.

To Hire or Not to Hire

Legal department hiring is slowing down, but some companies are still trying to fill open roles and find creative ways to meet the final candidates—while remaining six feet apart.

One company had a private jet waiting to whisk off a finalist to corporate headquarters. Another wanted to connect with a potential hire at the local airport, now considered a novel coronavirus hotbed. Others held meetings in the parking lot outside headquarters.

"It's not an easy time to close executive searches. It's not impossible, but generally people want to meet in person, and you can't really do that right now," said Sonya Som, a partner at Chicago-based executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. She told Corporate Counsel that top lawyer candidates who were willing to relocate before the pandemic hit are now bowing out of the interview process.

Starting a Job in Crisis Mode

Former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Claudius Sokenu is the new senior vice president, deputy general counsel and global head of legal operations at Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Not only did he assume his new positions in March amid the pandemic, but Sokenu started as the company is also recovering from a foreign bribery scandal that ousted the last GC. He talks to Corporate Counsel about his in-house career and what led him to the new opportunity that brought him to D.C. from Texas.

"You try to be flexible," he said of starting a job at this time. "I have still yet to meet most of my team in person. But we're working well together online and videoconferences and trying to make the best of what is a very, very difficult time not just for me but for our country as a whole."

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Best Legal Departments

Corporate Counsel's Best Legal Departments awards deadline for submissions is June 15.

We are looking for general counsel and in-house legal department applicants in the following categories:

U.S. Legal Department of the Year

Compliance Department of the Year

Startup Solo GC of the Year

Best Use of Technology

General Counsel of the Year

Best Deputy or Associate GC

Champion of Diversity Award

Best Legal Ops Team

Outstanding Community Service Award

If your general counsel and legal department qualify for a Best Legal Departments award, then please apply here.

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Covering COVID-19

If you're looking for guidance, take a look at our latest stories on how in-house counsel are being impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Comcast hired Candy Lawson to oversee its international compliance operations. Based in London, she spent 10 years serving in similar roles at 21st Century Fox, News Corp. and Morgan Stanley. She will also work from Comcast's Philadelphia headquarters.

Duolingo, a language-learning platform, tapped Stephen Chen to be its first GC. A veteran Silicon Valley in-house lawyer, Chen plans to relocate to the company's Pittsburgh headquarters.

Brian Yoshida will be the new chief legal officer of the Boston-based bank Santander Holdings USA. He starts in May as he arrives from M&T Bank, where he spent the last 18 years of his in-house career.