[4][5][6] Sandoval entered Oxford University in October 1984 on her scholarship and studied global politics, forming a thesis regarding U.S. and Western European policy toward Nicaragua and El Salvador.

[8] In 1990 after three years at Stanford, she completed the thesis work she had started as a Rhodes scholar, and was awarded a Master of Letters in Politics from Oxford.

[4] Following Stanford, Sandoval served for a year in Pasadena as law clerk to Judge Dorothy Wright Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

[8][10] After being admitted to the State Bar of California in July 1991, Sandoval was an associate litigator of Munger, Tolles & Olson, a law firm in Los Angeles.

In this position, she helped small businesses, especially minority-owned communications firms, gain greater access to FCC licensing.

"[12] Sandoval worked in the private sector from 1999 to 2001, serving as vice president and general counsel for Z-Spanish Media Corporation, a conglomerate of Spanish-language radio stations, news outlets and outdoor advertising.

[15] She researched and published studies examining minority and female ownership in media, antitrust, and communications law issues.

[5][15] The board oversees rates and rules for privately owned electric, gas, water, telecommunications, rail and passenger transportation utilities.

[17] Sandoval convened rulemaking workshops in 2011 to analyze the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile which would combine their customer base encompassing 47% of California's mobile phone market.

The hearings were seen as creating a precedent that would inform federal investigators seeking to block the merger, according to Dan Morain, columnist for the Sacramento Bee.

[22] Sandoval has been involved with nonprofit organizations, including Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional which was formed to help U.S. Latinas seeking higher education.