Matt Campobasso is general counsel (GC) and corporate secretary to Enfusion, a publicly traded fintech company that provides investment management software to asset managers. Over 18 years, he has been a government attorney, a law firm partner, and the general counsel for both private and publicly traded companies.
In this interview, Matt discusses his approach to leading Enfusion’s legal team, advising Enfusion’s CEO and board of directors, and what GCs need from outside counsel.
This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.
What first prompted you to consider a career in law?
Simply put, my uncle. He is one of the kindest and most gregarious people you will ever meet. When I was old enough to understand what a career was, I learned that he was the general counsel of AAA-Chicago Motor Club. We would talk about what it meant to be a lawyer, how he helped his clients, and the sorts of issues he dealt with as an attorney. The more I learned, the more I thought I might enjoy being a lawyer, especially because I’ve always liked problem-solving and I’m an effective communicator.
It sounds like it was about more than problem-solving and communication.
The main thing that attracted me was the opportunity to help people. I consider myself an empathetic person, and I enjoy lightening people’s loads. As an attorney, I take a lot of pride in knowing I did something to make a situation better. For a large part of my career, I was a litigator at a law firm. Nothing was more fulfilling than helping a client who called me feeling like their world was caving in, and ensuring we had a clear plan to move forward by the end of the conversation. Helping people — whether colleagues, clients, or shareholders — is where I have felt the most joy in my career.
You started as a criminal prosecutor and then became a litigation partner at a law firm. How did those roles lead to your current role as GC?
As much as I loved trying cases, I found myself frustrated that so many issues got to a courtroom. By the time a lawyer is standing in front of a jury, so much has gone wrong, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent, and the fate of both parties lies in the hands of a jury. Ten years into my law firm career, I realized I needed to get closer to the decisions that ultimately led to the phone calls I got from clients. Then I joined Elevate, a legal technology and consulting company, where I did in-house legal work for companies as a consultant. From there I joined TruQua, an SAP consultancy, as their GC. When TruQua was acquired by IBM in 2020, I joined Enfusion.