2021 Leaders in Law Finalists: Public Company

Elina Avakian
Senior Counsel
Snap Inc.

Elina Avakian is senior counsel at Snap Inc., the company that owns Snapchat, Bitmoji, and Spectacles, and has been with the company for over five years. Prior to joining Snap in 2016, Avakian practiced in Dublin, Ireland in the Commercial Legal team at Mason Hayes & Curran, a Tier 1 Irish law firm focused on tech, media, and telecommunications. She also completed an extended in-house secondment at Facebook with their Irish Commercial Legal team.
 
At Snap, Avakian works in the Tech Platforms & E-Commerce commercial team and supports internal clients in teams across Snapchat, Bitmoji, and Spectacles. She also lends her expertise and innovative approach to the global payments and e-commerce space, which is a constantly evolving area with new regulations and requirements. Her subject-matter expertise and creative negotiation strategy ensures that she closes a high-volume of compelling and strategic deals for Snap Inc. in a challenging and fast-paced environment.

Caroline Galanty
Senior Vice President – Associate General Counsel
Bank of America

Caroline Galanty started with the legal department of Bank of America 25 years ago as a bankruptcy attorney in Los Angeles. Today she supports the Global Commercial Banking, Business Banking/Wholesale Credit, Business Banking Special Assets, and Middle Market Special Assets teams throughout the Western United States. She advises clients on credit structuring, risk assessment and compliance issues arising throughout the life cycle of credits from origination through restructure or enforcement.

Advising on opposite ends of the credit life cycle creates a certain synergy. It has afforded Galanty a unique visibility into the two businesses’ respective (and different) skill sets, risk appetites, communication styles and processes. The recent massive influx of troubled credits caused by the Pandemic has tested those differences in unprecedented ways. Her line of sight has allowed her to see possibilities to leverage resources to more efficiently manage the legal needs of this growing group of credits. 

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