Alumni @ RopesTalk: Recent Episodes
Ropes & Gray LLP
In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s Alumni @ RopesTalk podcast, life sciences partner Amanda Austin, who’s also a member of the firm’s alumni committee, interviews alum and friend Heidy King-Jones, former chief legal officer at Provention Bio. Heidy was an associate at Ropes & Gray from 2008 – 2013, after which she took in-house roles at Sarepta Therapeutics, Axcella and Provention Bio. As a self-described “student of law, student of biotech and student of life,” Heidy talks broadly about her career, with detours into the experience of working at Provention Bio during its acquisition by Sanofi. She shares what she learned at Ropes & Gray, including an important lesson about client service. For anyone thinking about next steps in their career, Heidy also offers great advice focused on where you find professional joy versus professional drain. This interview was recorded on May 25, shortly before Heidy’s departure from Provention Bio, which was acquired by Sanofi in April.
In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s Alumni @ RopesTalk podcast, strategic transactions partner Abby Gregor interviews Beibei Sun, senior corporate counsel of global licensing and business development at Sanofi. Beibei was an associate in the life sciences group at Ropes & Gray before joining Sanofi in 2021. At Sanofi, she supports the specialty care business unit on licensing transactions and the ventures team on venture capital transactions. In this interview, Beibei talks about the differences between being a deal lawyer at a big firm versus in-house. In thinking about her career, she shares the three pieces of advice she would give to newer lawyers. Beibei also reflects on her time at Ropes & Gray—what she gained from the firm, what she misses most, and how she’s been able to continue doing pro bono work in collaboration with the firm as an alumni.