Amy Schulman of DLA Piper is set to take the top legal job at the drugmaker next month, replacing Allen Waxman, who left Pfizer in March for “personal reasons.”

Schulman, 47, is the lead lawyer for Pfizer in nationwide litigation claiming its painkillers Celebrex and Bextra caused heart attacks and strokes. Earlier this month, the drugmaker reached tentative settlements with some groups of plaintiffs, just as the first Bextra trial was due to go begin Monday in federal court in San Francisco.

Schulman specializes in defending companies against large-scale litigation alleging that their products are defective, the Journal writes, adding that she made a name for herself in litigation circles as a strategist and manager of large legal teams. (Here is some background and here is a wee bit more).

She has represented General Electric and Altria, among other companies, and has become one of the top business producers at her current law firm, DLA Piper, one of the largest in the world, according to the Journal, which adds that she earned $5.75 million last year at DLA. Pfizer didn’t say what her compensation would be.

Schulman will report to Jeffrey Kindler, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive, who is also an attorney. “Her knowledge of the legal, business and regulatory challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry and her experience tackling large, complex cases make her uniquely qualified to lead Pfizer’s legal team,” according to a statement apparently provided by Pfizer to the newspaper.

“Many successful women have become successful because they’re just awfully good at being compulsive and organized and doers. But it’s hard to be successful and be a control freak, because if you cling to things, you’re going to be a bottleneck. Delegating to other people - appropriately delegating - is very liberating,” she told Life 2.0.

“I get around 600 e-mails a day. I divide them into four categories, and I deal with them immediately, by and large. First are e- mails that I forward to someone else. Next are where somebody’s giving me information that I need to cascade to somebody else with instructions. Third are the ones that I can read later on an airplane. Fourth are those that require me to respond immediately.

“The BlackBerry was at first a significant intrusion on family life. But my family has gotten used to the fact that I’m more relaxed if I can take care of my e-mails. I don’t generally look at my e-mail during mealtimes, and I try not to look at it in movie theaters.”