Internet company Mozilla has hired former Salesforce associate general counsel Carlos Torres as its new chief legal officer, replacing Amy Keating, who left in July last year to join satellite network company Planet Labs.

Torres will be responsible for leading Mozilla’s global legal and public policy teams and developing legal, regulatory and policy strategies for the business, reporting to CEO Mitchell Baker. Torres also assumes the role of corporate secretary and joins the company’s steering committee.

Baker said: “Carlos stood out in the interview process because of his great breadth of experience across many topics including strategic and commercial agreements, product, privacy, IP, employment, board matters, investments, regulatory and litigation. He brings experience in both large and small companies, and in organisations with different risk profiles as well as a deep belief in Mozilla’s commitment to innovation and to an open internet.”

Torres most recently spent a year heading up legal and strategic initiatives at tech start-up Flashbots. He also had brief stints as GC at two San Francisco-based start-ups Turvo and HouseCanary. Prior to that he spent more than a decade at Salesforce in a number of roles, including vice president for business development and strategic alliances and as associate GC and chief of staff. He started his career in private practice at Orrick, Herrington & Sutfcliffe. 

He said: “Mozilla continues to be a unique and respected voice in technology, in a world that needs trusted institutions more than ever. There is no other organisation that combines community, product, technology and advocacy to produce trusted innovative products that people love.”

The search for a new CLO took more than a year after Keating departed in July 2021 to take up the same role at Planet Labs.

In other recent US in-house moves, US alternative credit provider CIFC Asset Management last month promoted Asha Richards to GC following the departure of Julian Weldon. It also hired Lily Wicker from Sound Point Capital Management as chief compliance officer and associate GC. And in July, US biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences hired Deborah Telman as GC from Merck’s women’s health spinoff Organon & Co, replacing Brett Pletcher who had announced his retirement.