UC Law SF Alumni at Salesforce Share Career Journeys and Show Students What's Possible
Four highly accomplished UC Law SF alumni working as part of Salesforce’s in-house legal team spoke about their career journeys and the importance of keeping an open mind. From left to right: Professor Paul Belonick; Todd Machtmes ’95, General Counsel; Francesca Montesano ’08, Senior Director, Commercial Legal; Matt Tonner ’13, Senior Director, AI Legal; Norene Lew ’96, Director, Cross Functional Strategic Initiatives.
UC Law SF students enjoyed the stunning views from the Salesforce Tower and learned about business and tech law opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
UC Law San Francisco’s strengths in business and technology law help students and graduates reach the highest levels – including the city’s iconic Salesforce Tower.
At a career-focused event for students in October, four UC Law SF alumni that included Todd Machtmes ’95 as Salesforce General Counsel discussed their work as part of the in-house legal team at the software giant and covered emerging areas like artificial intelligence.
The panel was moderated by Professor Paul Belonick, Faculty Assistant Director of the Center for Innovation (C4i) and Director of the Startup Legal Garage.
Whether they graduated during a recession or during an industry boom, the panelists shared similar advice on embracing even the most nonlinear career path and building relationships with clients and peers. Norene Lew ’96, Director, Cross Functional Strategic Initiatives, remembered reaching out to a UC Law SF classmate after transitioning away from her first job.
“The legal community is quite small, so you’ll run into people. Getting to know folks and networking is really key to finding your next opportunity,” she said. Lew spent seven years as a commercial legal attorney at Salesforce before her chief of staff role.
Todd Machtmes ’95 finds creative solutions to drive business growth as General Counsel at Salesforce.
Machtmes told the students not to put too much pressure on themselves to have an identified destination – advice he also gave to his own college-age daughter. “My career has been one where I explored new things and learned new things about myself,” he said. “You might explore and change course and that’s OK.”
As the company’s General Counsel, Machtmes has had to identify a balance between finding business solutions that stimulate growth while also protecting the company. “The twin roles that are unique to the legal profession as in-house lawyers make it interesting,” Machtmes said. “With enough empathy and creativity, you can find ways to get things done.”
Helping clients understand these challenges and seeing their perspective is essential for Matt Tonner ’13, Senior Director, AI Legal. He similarly has to balance business opportunity with legal risk, making sure clients understand the consequences of certain paths. With product legal and AI legal, “there’s a big relationship management component to it,” he said. “We have to make sure we’re trusted advisors to the business.”
Francesca Montesano ’08, Senior Director, Commercial Legal, emphasized the importance of making sure clients know the legal team is there to support them.
“It’s really important to know your clients’ motivation and what they’re worried about,” she said. Her clients are salespeople with a laser focus on what targets they need to hit, and part of her job is to explain the legal side in lay terms and present options for moving forward. “Empathy is incredibly important when I’m working with my clients,” she said.
After the panel, students connected with UC Law SF alumni working in a variety of legal departments at Salesforce. The networking and learning event was an example of the career opportunities available to students at UC Law SF.
Machtmes, Lew, Tonner, and Montesano, along with other UC Law SF alumni working at Salesforce, mingled with students and answered questions in small groups after the panel. It’s a partnership that leverages the College’s powerful alumni network and proximity to top companies.
“Salesforce and its attorneys have been long-term partners of the school through not only this program, but through mentoring students, conducting mock interviews and offering internship opportunities,” said Amy Kimmel, assistant dean for the Career Development Office (CDO). “We are very grateful for this partnership and that our students have access to such generous and accomplished alumni.”
The CDO worked in partnership with the Business Law Society, Technology & Law Society, and the Intellectual Property Association to put on the panel and introduce students to the work of in-house attorneys.
“The event offered students irreplicable insight into in-house work and the many roads one can take to get there,” said Matthew Wallace, director of professional development for the Business Law Society. “UC Law SF is fortunate to have Salesforce and its attorneys volunteer their time to help students better understand the realities of the field before entering it.”
The Bay Area offers many opportunities for students to explore business, technology, and intellectual property law. “The insights shared at the event were crucial to our understanding of the work in-house counsel does, both inside such a cutting-edge company and also in the context of the greater technology ecosystem in the Bay Area,” said Isabel Samayoa, director of mentorship for the Technology & Law Society.
Sungmin Kim, external vice president of the Law & Intellectual Property Association and director of alumni relations for the Technology & Law Society, said, “For anyone interested in intellectual property law or technology law, the event highlighted the myriad, significant and exclusive opportunities that come from connecting with Salesforce and other esteemed trailblazers here in the Bay Area.”