Ex-Snap VP Wields Network, ‘Sweat Equity’ in Mid-Career Law Move

After two decades in Big Law and the tech industry, Dominic Perella did something extraordinary for him—he leapt into the marketplace of potential employers.

The former chief compliance officer for Snap Inc. and litigation partner at Hogan Lovells needed to figure out the mechanics of a process that would convince possible bosses he was ready to be a general counsel.

“I’d never done anything like this before,” Perella said in an interview. “I’d never put myself on the job market. I’ve always just been carried from one job to the next job.”

His nine-month journey proved to Perella that at 47, the married father of three could take a methodical approach to shake up his career path and successfully land a top C-suite legal job.

Unconventional Path

Prior to entering the legal field, Perella spent five years working as a journalist for the Associated Press.

During his nearly decade-long stint as a litigator at Hogan Lovells in Washington, Perella appeared before the US Supreme Court and represented clients ranging from Ford Motor Co. to the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Dominic Perella

He was also outside counsel to Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, where former Hogan Lovells litigation partner Christopher Handman was the social media company’s first general counsel. Handman hired Perella at Snap in 2015.

Appellate litigators make natural in-house lawyers because they’re both generalists, said Perella, recalling a phrase he often heard from Handman.

When Handman left Snap in 2017, Perella spent about a week as the company’s acting general counsel before the permanent successor became official. Getting passed over was tough, but he said he had a sense of it not being his time.

Perella spent seven years in the No. 2 legal job at Snap, which he helped take public. In addition to leading compliance, he was also a deputy general counsel serving as Snap’s global head of litigation, and he managed the company’s regulatory, intellectual property, and environmental, social, and governance teams.

The Break

Perella had been ready for the next step up, but there was no opening at Snap.

Tired of doing “law things,” he was burnt out and ready for a change. Perella put in his notice and worked with Snap to find his replacements as compliance chief and to take over his other legal duties.

“I was going a million miles an hour,” Perella said. “It was just a great time to pause.”

Instead of jumping straight into the general counsel job market, Perella took a mid-career hiatus.

His parents and extended family live near Philadelphia—a long haul from his home in Manhattan Beach, Calif. He also knew he had only a short window before his oldest daughter left the nest.

“I recognize that not everyone has that privilege, but I was in a position to do it,” Perella said of his sabbatical. “I would be a fool to not stop and smell the roses for a few months before I do the next thing.”

Perella mostly went off the grid, juggling a mix of child, parent, and poodle care, he joked. He took a European vacation with his family and spent time in rural Vermont. He mixed in some consulting work for Snap.

“Time with family, friends or whomever, is invaluable,” Perella said. “Just stepping back and thinking about what you really want to do next, without having the daily grind hanging over your head, was incredibly helpful to me.”

The Search

By late summer, with the kids heading back to school, Perella took stock of his job prospects and relied on his experience at Snap to set him up for his next chapter.

“I had built out the teams the company asked me to build out,” Perella said. “I was ready to seek a GC role.”

It was right around that time when mass layoffs began hitting the technology sector, including his former colleagues at Snap.

Perella said he didn’t panic. Despite the deluge of downsizings, he told himself there will always be companies looking for lawyers.

The most important tool Perella used was networking, be it through LinkedIn—a popular medium for lawyers—or other professional associations.

He tapped his personal contacts at Snap, including some board members, to put him in contact with legal recruiters and executive hiring operators at venture capital firms. Perella spoke with several companies in the market for a legal chief, including Branch Metrics Inc., a provider of mobile linking and measurement platforms.

Perella hit it off with Branch’s CEO, Alex Austin. It helped that the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup, valued at $4 billion last year after reaching unicorn status in 2018, was working in a space adjacent to Snap.

He took a job last month as the first general counsel at Branch. The company helps clients such as Airbnb Inc., BuzzFeed Inc., Instacart Inc., and Reddit Inc. create deep links for mobile apps.

Perella oversees a 10-lawyer team in a hybrid work environment—he’ll travel to the Bay Area a few times each month. He said he’s confident he found the right fit for his skill set—a key factor when plunging into the job market.

“I put in the sweat equity,” Perella said. “Thankfully, it worked out.”