If Leanne Murphy didn’t work another day in her life, the now-retired EVP and general counsel who spent the last six years at b2b pharmacy solutions company CPS Solutions is proud of the legacy she’s left, and rightfully so. She’s not entirely sure that she’ll be able to stay retired, but regardless, it’s a moment to celebrate.
Murphy’s career included CPS, Walmart, Walgreens, and Sears, and included increasingly complex roles where the attorney provided strategic legal support and helped advance business initiatives. And the EVP never seemed to tap the brakes. Even in coming to CPS in 2019, the move included one of the GC’s proudest moments to date: building a legal function from scratch.
“When I joined, there was no internal legal resource, so building that department from the ground up was both an adventure and a challenge,” Murphy says. “It required a tremendous amount of energy, maybe a little more than a woman of my age should be exerting.”
Nonetheless, Murphy says the last six years provided her with chances to continue growing. It’s not something you’re used to hearing with someone winding down their career. But Murphy says she feels grateful for her time at CPS, and that the experience made her a better lawyer.
“My last six years changed me a lot as an attorney,” Murphy says. “It helped make me more strategic and less project focused. I was also conscious of wanting to pass along as much as I could to the team I built. I wanted everybody on the team, from lawyers to nonattorney professionals, to be able to grow and develop in their roles.”
That mentorship is part of the reason Murphy is proud of the legacy she’s left. She viewed her role not just as a legal advisor, but as a guide and teacher for the next generation of professionals. Murphy assigned projects tailored to her team members’ interests, paired them with experts in the field, and shared stories from her own career to illustrate lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid.
For Those Going In-House
Leanne Murphy is a long-seasoned in-house pro. Here’s some impactful advice from the recently retired GC.
Ask Questions and Explore: The most important thing to do once an attorney moves from a law firm to in-house is to explore, ask a lot of questions, get to know people, understand who has authority, understand who makes things happen, and understand how things get done.”
Build Trust: Develop relationships with business team members by having regular, interactive meetings, not just project-based calls. “That leads to a better conversation and a better relationship. It creates trust from the business perspective where they’ll share more with you.”
Balance Legal Conservatism with Business Goals: “At a law firm, most attorneys will be very conservative in their legal advice. If that same lawyer wanted to start their own business, I’m not sure the doors would ever open. You have to learn to think bigger than just the confines of your legal role.”
At CPS, Murphy eschewed the traditional hierarchical model, preferring to work side-by-side with her team. The GC has always believed that the best legal solutions emerge from a diversity of perspectives.
Over the course of her career, Murphy has watched more women enter law. Earlier in her career, she watched women she went to school with try and force themselves into more “alpha” personalities. It was a sign of the times, the only way some women felt they could enter a field dominated by men.
“I remember seeing women I knew buying season tickets for the Chicago Bears or Bulls, taking up golfing, and just trying to project a different version of themself than I knew,” Murphy remembers. “I hope things have changed, and I think they have. As a woman, you need to be conscious of whether or not there might be bias by your management. Then, you can decide to prove them wrong, or you can go somewhere where you’re going to be more welcome.”
Murphy also implores women to keep making noise for themselves. So often, women accomplish so much without letting anyone know. Women can be confident and accomplished without being abrasive or braggadocious. You can still be yourself while advocating for yourself. It’s advice the GC always felt important to pass along.
“Things continue to get better for us, but still, I encourage you to seek out a mentor, to make it clear to the people above you that you want to advance, and be communicative about your desires,” she says.
As for Murphy’s desires, she’s not entirely sure yet. She’s enjoyed completing some projects around her home for the last few months, but she’s already taken more than a few calls about how long she intends to stay retired.
“In terms of what I might be looking for, I think I can rule out building a legal team from scratch,” Murphy says. “Other than that, it may be pure legal work, it may be consulting, or it may be a mix. At my core, I’m a transactional attorney. I really love the art of the deal. So, I may pursue something along those lines. I guess we’ll see.”
Manatt Health integrates deep legal and consulting experience to better serve the complex needs of clients across the health care system. Combining legal excellence, first-hand experience in shaping public policy, sophisticated strategy insights, and deep analytic capabilities, we provide uniquely valuable professional services to the full range of health industry players. We are proud to partner with Leanne Murphy and the rest of the CPS team to support their mission of providing innovative solutions that empower health care organizations to transform community health care, improve patient outcomes and advance the standard of care for patients across the country.
