Eli Lilly and Co. is on the hunt for a new top lawyer as its current general counsel and vice president, Mike Harrington, is preparing to retire at the end of the year. 

The global pharmaceutical company announced Harrington's plans to step down on Thursday and stated that a ”search is underway for Harrington's successor.” 

Harrington joined Lilly in 1991 as a product liability litigation lawyer and has been a member of the Indianapolis-based company's executive committee for seven years. 

He has served several roles at the company, including managing director of Lilly's New Zealand affiliate and associate general counsel for Lilly's operations in the Asia-Pacific region. Before he was promoted to GC, he served as deputy general counsel of global pharmaceutical operations and oversaw legal matters for Lilly's global business branches. 

Lilly chairman and CEO David Ricks credited Harrington with helping the company maintain “patent exclusivity for a number of important medicines” and finalizing several acquisitions, including Loxo Oncology and ARMO BioSciences.

“But his impact goes far beyond the legal department,” Ricks added. “Mike models the Lilly values, has developed and mentored talent throughout the organization and served as a key adviser to Lilly's board and two CEOs.”

Harrington, who was unavailable for comment, was a litigator at Baker & Daniels in Indianapolis before he went to work for Lilly. He has a bachelor's degree in English from Albion College in Michigan and a law degree from the Columbia University School of Law.

Meanwhile, another Lilly executive, Christi Shaw, senior vice president and president of Lilly Bio-Medicines, is retiring at the end of August. The president and general manager of Lilly Japan, Patrik Jonsson, has been named as Shaw's successor.

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