Corporate law to CEA operations: Mid-career transitions with Kathleen Perell

By frances_lorenz @ 2025-07-22T11:18 (+45)

Kathleen Perell | Chief of Staff to the COO at the Centre for Effective Altruism

Kathleen Perell began her career with a clear goal: obtain a law degree and then find meaningful, mission-aligned work. While she was never committed to a particular cause, she knew she wanted to do something good for others. Unfortunately, like many, she faced the financial and institutional reality of legal education in the U.S., graduating with substantial debt and limited practical experience. To pay it off and gain career capital, Kathleen joined a prestigious law firm, learning how top lawyers think, negotiate, and operate. She stayed for three years, then moved to a mid-sized firm where she could take a step back, focus on starting a family, and reflect on what her “ultimate plan” might be.

Over the years, Kathleen cycled through roles in corporate law, nonprofits, and tech, spending quite a few years as counsel at Grubhub. At each juncture, she sought jobs that felt meaningful, but was often left disillusioned. “Every time I switched, it wasn’t quite what I wanted. I was looking for something tangible, something clearly net-positive, and that was a lot more difficult to find than it seemed,” she remembers. “And then, when I found what I wanted, it went terribly.” A stint at a nonprofit working to support abused, neglected, and traumatized children ended in disappointment due to a toxic work environment and poor leadership. Discouraged by the nonprofit space, Kathleen returned to her previous employer, Grubhub, as part-time counsel. This gave her some breathing room to reassess her career.

In 2022, Kathleen decided to step back from law entirely, quitting without another job lined up. She spent months reading, listening, and thinking, frustrated by the noise of organizations claiming to do good without clear evidence. That’s when she stumbled upon effective altruism. From there, she listened to a podcast of Sam Harris interviewing Will MacAskill, found 80,000 Hours, and began regularly engaging with EA content. 

For the first time, Kathleen felt that she had found a framework for assessing impact. She stumbled upon an article about operations work in EA from another lawyer who had transitioned into the EA space: Amy Labenz, current Director of Events at the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA). Kathleen reached out and the two were able to have a call. 

Months later, in November 2023, Amy unexpectedly messaged about a potential legal role at Effective Ventures (EV). For those familiar with the FTX crash and this period in EA’s history, it won’t be a surprise that Effective Ventures really needed help. Amy knew that EV could gain a lot from Kathleen, and she also hoped it could help Kathleen enter the EA space. At the time, Kathleen had mentally moved on from legal work, but this role felt urgent and philosophically grounded. She wasn’t exactly excited about the level of crisis the organization was in, but she recalls a feeling of, “If not now, then when?” So, she joined EV, despite its structural uncertainty and legal complexity.

As the situation at EV stabilized and began winding down (with the organization ultimately planning for dissolution), Kathleen started to consider non-legal opportunities in EA. In January 2025, she decided to join CEA as Chief of Staff to the COO, Anna Weldon. 

Kathleen describes herself as cause-neutral but deeply motivated to work with competent, thoughtful people focused on impact. “So few get to work on something they really believe in,” she says. “I searched for ten years and couldn’t find the right thing. But now, I feel at peace with my career.”

That feeling didn’t come solely from impact metrics. It came from seeing leadership she trusted, an operational foundation she wanted to help shape, and a culture that matched her own values. “A lot of organizations can say they’re doing good,” she says, “but I’m often not sure they’re actually that different from Grubhub. I wasn’t seeing clear evidence of organizations actually having a net positive impact. But at CEA, the philosophy is simple, clear, and tied to real competence.”

Her years in law, demanding and detail-oriented, gave her important skills she uses every day: the discipline to ensure every word is accurate, the ability to frame problems clearly for others, and a mindset of bringing solutions. “Some of the important skills I picked up in law became ingrained in my work DNA,” she says.

Switching careers while raising two young girls was challenging, but her husband was incredibly encouraging, knowing how important it was for Kathleen to find work she cared about. When she first considered joining EV, he said, “Sounds crazy, but go for it. And I’ll let you know if it starts to sound too crazy.”

Right now, Kathleen is excited to have joined CEA as it enters a new phase of growth and development under the leadership of CEO Zach Robinson, who assumed the role in February 2024.

“This is a real inflection point for CEA. We’re creating an entirely new legal entity structure as we spin out from EV, and I’m thrilled to be part of it.” 

She sees EA as a “breath of fresh air”: an intellectual and moral framework that finally gave her clarity after years of searching. And she wants others to find that too.

Kathleen’s advice to those considering a career transition:

Focus on finding organizations with strong foundations: rigorous thinking, shared values, and people you trust. And when you find the opportunity to join something with the right signals, even if the timing isn’t perfect, don’t wait.