Richard Cheng, general counsel of Senior Care Centers, says his new colleagues were perplexed when the company hired him last year.

It’s rare for long-term health-care companies to have in-house counsel, he explains — an irony since the industry is heavily regulated. Dallas-based Senior Care Centers is one of the few long-term care companies with a general counsel, Cheng says, so when he joined the team, his colleagues had to ask, “Why is he valuable?”