Maureen Sheehy, general counsel with Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has hired its first general counsel.

The nonprofit medical research organization, co-founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, announced longtime litigator Maureen Sheehy as its GC Monday. Sheehy started at her new role on Sept. 5.

“It's gone well,” Sheehy told Corporate Counsel. “It's a great group of people here. The work they're doing is very exciting. So I've been spending a lot of time getting to know the work that's going on and the people who are leading it. That's been a big part of how I've spent my time, as well as getting caught up on the legal issues and projects going on.”

In her new role, Sheehy said she's responsible for overseeing the organization's legal function—right now it's just her and another lawyer—identifying and addressing legal risks and protecting intellectual property.

She's reporting to CZ Biohub's chief operating officer Gajus Worthington, who was her first contact at the company after a recruiter reached out to her. Sheehy said that during the interview process she became ”hooked” on the nonprofit's model and mission.

“We are thrilled to have Maureen as part of our team,” Worthington said in a statement. “Her unique blend of leadership, deep litigation and regulatory expertise will be a major asset to our researchers and investigators as CZ Biohub continues to rev up as a discovery engine.”

This is her first in-house role. Most recently, Sheehy was the San Francisco office managing partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. She had been with the firm for over a decade, joining when it was still Townsend and Townsend and Crew. Sheehy negotiated the firm's merger with Kilpatrick Stockton in 2010.

That leadership experience will be key as a GC, she said. As a litigator, she said she's had to work on a number of cases, a wide range of experience that could come in handy in her new role.

“It's been a variety of industries, different-sized companies, from small family-owned businesses to Fortune 100 companies,” she said. “So there's a lot of breadth of experience in terms of the kinds of experience of things I've had to touch on in my career.”

Prior to her role at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, Sheehy served as a partner at the Legal Strategies Group, and as an attorney at McConnell Valdes in Puerto Rico and Feldman, Waldman & Kline in San Francisco, according to her LinkedIn. She earned her J.D. at the University of Chicago Law School.

Sheehy also has experience in the nonprofit and pro bono world. According to Monday's release from CZ Biohub, she has worked on implementing an award-winning corporate citizenship program and has an active pro bono practice. She is on the board of directors and executive committee for the East Bay Community Law Center and on the steering committee for Equal Rights Advocates.

“There's a lot of consistency in my mind in terms of making a move to a nonprofit organization whose mission I find so exciting,” she said.