Alumni @ RopesTalk: Conversation with Eric Yecies, LifeMD

On this episode of Ropes & Gray’s Alumni @ RopesTalk podcast, health care partner Christina Bergeron interviews alum Eric Yecies, chief legal officer and general counsel at LifeMD. Eric discusses his journey from practicing IP litigation as an associate at Ropes & Gray from 2004–2008 to becoming a key figure in a publicly traded telehealth company. Gain insights into the unpredictability of his day-to-day responsibilities, the strategic thinking essential for in-house roles, and the impact of telehealth on LifeMD's rapid growth.

Transcript:

Christina Bergeron: Hi, everyone. Thank you for tuning in to the latest installment of the Ropes & Gray alumni podcast. I’m Christina Bergeron, a partner in the health care practice group, and I’m delighted to be joined today by Eric Yecies, chief legal officer and general counsel of LifeMD, a publicly traded telehealth company that provides its patients with access to comprehensive virtual health care to its vertically integrated digital care platform and 50-state affiliated medical group. About 10 years ago, Eric was practicing at Ropes & Gray as an IP litigation associate. Eric, thank you so much for joining us today. Congratulations on your recent promotion to chief legal officer—that’s so wonderful.

Eric Yecies: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Christina Bergeron: Let’s start talking about your transition from law firm life to LifeMD. What attracted you to LifeMD?

Eric Yecies: The transition was a bit unsolicited. I had an extended family member who was an investor in what was then called Conversion Labs, and he said, “I’m getting involved with this company. I know what you do. I know what they need. I know there are some concentric circles here. I’m not sure how much overlap there is, but I think you might make a nice match.” At the time, I’d been practicing for about 16 years—it was all going well, but in the same respect, I was looking for something new. This seemed to be an interesting opportunity to go talk to a company and come in as the first attorney in a soon-to-be publicly traded company. What they were really looking for was a compliance officer and I felt I could do that, and I sold them on the general counsel role, as well—so, I joined as general counsel and chief compliance officer. My thought was, “If nothing else, I’m going to get a lot of experience very quickly in a world that is a bit different than mine, albeit familiar.”

Christina Bergeron: Can you describe for us what your day-to-day is like, or what a typical day is like at LifeMD?

Eric Yecies: It’s very unpredictable because there are a lot of needs coming across the breadth of the company, and so, you never know where that most important action item is coming from. You have a list of to-dos, and then, the day happens. What I can say is, it’s streaky. For example, towards the end of last year, I spent my time working for a few weeks collaboratively with our head of business development doing deal work. We announced a major collaboration agreement with a partner, and so, that was around-the-clock, fast and intense—similar to going to trial as far as intensity. Then, this past week or two with some transitions in our HR department, I’m in the weeds of performance reviews, structure and creation, 401(k) benefits, and all these things that aren’t typically something you think you’d be doing. There are also the classic dispute resolutions and whether those are litigations, arbitrations, or this, that and the other thing. It is all over the place. What I can say is there’s never a lack of things to do.

Christina Bergeron: How was it transitioning from working on IP-centric matters to then having to work on a variety of different legal topics?

Eric Yecies: It was challenging because you’re looked to by all as the final in-house word of advice on everything. Being the first attorney at a company—at the time, I was employee 20-something, now, I think we’re over 250—you have ultimate responsibility both on the legal and compliance side. You want to be thoughtful in that advice because you want the people to keep coming back to you to seek it. In the same respect, you need to be honest about what you know and what you don’t know and be willing to go figure it out. What that all leads to, which I enjoy, is helping to solve, or even avoid, problems, working to open new opportunities, all while trying to keep it simple. Especially, in a growing tech company without having prior in-house counsel of any sorts, you want to just break it down and find the pathway forward in the simplest way possible, so that’s what I try to do.

Christina Bergeron: Was there any experience you had while at Ropes & Gray or subsequent law firms that you think really translated well into this role and that really helped you succeed?

Eric Yecies: Yes. While it wasn’t everything I do, pharmaceutical patent litigation forces you to think creatively, whether you’re on the branded side, the generic side or maybe it’s a non-pharma suit, but you’re always trying to come up with a new argument, figure out a way to respond to the other’s position, and ultimately, whether it’s dispute over claims, have the result turn in your favor. It’s very analogous because you’re coming at some of these business problems differently than the rest of the non-attorneys in the group. Sometimes, that gives you the opportunity to seek creative paths forward, and one of the most important things was to take the mentality of finding a way to “yes.” There are times where it’s going to be “no”—they’re not that frequent. I usually can find a way to “yes” to some degree, and that’s what a business is looking for. You want to move forward—you don’t want to stop. If you stop, you need an alternative path to get back on the path that you were on before.

Christina Bergeron: Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Obviously, telehealth was front and center during the pandemic. Do you attribute that to some of the rapid growth of LifeMD?

Eric Yecies: Yes and no. LifeMD was called Conversion Labs before the name change, and I only say that because they had launched two of the vertical brands—Shapiro MD, which is hair regrowth, and RexMD, which is men’s health—in 2019, even before I arrived in late 2020. 2020 was the year of the beginning of the pandemic, so they were in place growing, but the pandemic absolutely juiced everything. It brought life to what became our new brand of LifeMD, and a focus on virtual primary care and weight loss being a big part of that. Across the industry, it proved to the rest of the world and those who were skeptical that telehealth could work. It can work. It can be profitable. It can be helpful ultimately to the patient, which is really the most important thing. You see it just continuing to gain momentum. I’m involved with the ATA, the American Telemedicine Association, and I’m just thinking back to the last conference in December, how many Senators were at that policy conference—meaning that it’s gaining respect and attention, not just in business, but in government and in various other fields, because everyone is starting to realize that there’s real value added here.

Christina Bergeron: Absolutely. Any advice for people who are considering a move to in-house based on your role at LifeMD and what you’ve been able to experience?

Eric Yecies: Yes. I think if you’re going to move in-house, you’re going to be deeply involved with the business, so you have to be comfortable with numbers, and ideally, you love numbers, because numbers are driving the business. When thinking about what you’re working on, I always think about, “What is the business reason for what we’re doing or what we want to do? How is this driving revenue?” Let that lead you—you want to keep that in mind because, ultimately, it is a business. If you let that lead, you’ll have a better relationship with those whom you’re working with because that’s where their minds are to begin with.

Christina Bergeron: Like the business is your client, so to speak.

Eric Yecies: Yes, but coming at it from a business perspective as opposed to just, “What’s the legal answer—right, wrong, I don’t know, or maybe?” Figuring out what’s the business reason or what’s driving the revenue. Sometimes, maybe the legal issue isn’t brought in the right context once you think about those things, and you help re-center and help to get to what that ultimate bottom line is. That’s important and, I think, the ability to get to that bottom line when working in a company and explaining it clearly and efficiently is critical. While I could sit in the office of a colleague of Ropes or other firms and debate the merits all day long about pretty much anything, that’s going to be a different conversation than debating the business drivers and reasons for the issue that you’re involved with and helping them get to where you want to go.

Christina Bergeron: It sounds like a need for a love for strategy and seeing the big picture at times.

Eric Yecies: Also, speed. Everything is fast. Everything is due yesterday.

Christina Bergeron: Any favorite memories you’d want to share?

Eric Yecies: It’s funny because it goes back to my summer program, which was summer of 2003 I think it was. That was back in the heyday of where there were still big blowouts as far as wining and dining and things of that nature, which was great fun. The two more important things I’d say was I got to do real work that summer. There were appeals going on and this, that, and the other thing, and so, albeit smaller pieces, they were certainly things that were needed and mattered at the time. Also, lasting relationships. When I think about that summer, here are a few examples. Staci Julie was one of the associate mentors to the summer program. Now, she’s senior VP and chief IP counsel at Teva. Then, Teva became a client of mine when I was at Goodwin, and so, I work with her. Shilpi Banerjee was also around the same class, and she went to Sloan Kettering and was also a client, so I got to work with her. I was just at my son’s private high school and ran into Robert Bahrampour, who is another one who had interviewed me back in the day. We’re now in touch—he’s at Merrill Lynch. There’s also Larry Coury at Regeneron, and on and on and on. These people stay with you through the years, and all of those—there’s probably another 10 or 15 I could rattle off—are people I’m still in touch with one way or another over the years. That goes to the strength of relationship, and, I think, you see it very much so in business. I think you appreciate it a little bit more after the fact or later on in law firms. It’s ultimately about relationships. You want to build strong relationships. You want to find good mentors. You want to figure out your area of expertise. By keeping those relationships warm, it just leads to better results all around.

Christina Bergeron: Absolutely, and a more enjoyable work environment. Eric, thank you so much for taking the time to join me today. It’s always a pleasure to reconnect with our alums. I know our alumni community will really appreciate the chance to hear about your experiences while at the firm and your career post-Ropes & Gray, so thank you again. For all of our alumni out there, please visit the alumni website at alumi.ropesgray.com to stay up to date on our alumni, and to get latest news about the firm and our lawyers. Thank you so much for tuning in.