College Experiences That Helped a Chief Legal Officer at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc Succeed
Eric's political economy major provided "fantastic training" for the Chief Legal Officer role at BioMarin, as it involved synthesizing information from diverse disciplines—similar to "pulling together the science, the legal things from a variety of different countries"—and rapidly assimilating large amounts of reading material. This interdisciplinary approach and developed skillset proved invaluable for their career.
Problem-Solving, Communication, Critical Thinking, Information Synthesis, Interdisciplinary Approach
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Eric Davis
Chief Legal Officer
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.
U.C. Berkeley
University of San Francisco, Juris Doctorate
Political Science, American Studies
Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical
Legal
Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. Develop strong analytical skills by combining different disciplines, such as political science, history, and economics, to solve complex problems.
2. Practice assimilating information quickly and efficiently, as this skill is crucial for success in a fast-paced career.
3. Build a solid foundation in critical thinking by learning to analyze situations and apply theories from various fields to real-world problems.
Transcript
What did you do in undergrad to set you up for success in your career?
The political economy major I was in was fantastic training for that. It's a great experience of trying to take different disciplines and combine political science, history, and economics.
The goal is to think about theories from each of those and apply them to a situation or problem set. That's really similar to what I do, as I'm pulling things together.
I pull together the science and the legal aspects from a variety of different countries. It requires a ton of reading and getting through that reading really quickly.
This really helps with assimilating information quickly. For all those reasons, it gave me a great framework to think through problems and has been super helpful in my career.