Experience Projects Skills Life Connect

Zoe Huang

Tech lawyer. Recovering perfectionist. Currently building processes and systems to figure out what lawyering looks like when AI can do half the job.

5 years across legal practice, system design and supporting growth from legal tech start-up to big law. Currently advising digital platforms, AI companies, regulated industries and ASX-listed enterprises on cross-border tech transactions, compliance and risk strategy and complex regulatory problems at Ashurst, and building the processes and systems behind them. Passionate about growth.

San Francisco, US From Sydney, Australia Let's Connect

Experience

Feb 2023 — Present

Associate

Ashurst · Sydney & Singapore

Runs large scale tech transactions, cross-border compliance and contracting projects and enterprise programs across digital infrastructure / data centres, financial services and regulated industries, digital platforms & gen AI providers, online content regulation, and data privacy. Coordinates multi-stakeholder deal processes across APAC. Nominated and sponsored for a six-month secondment in Singapore to support and run multiple regulatory workstreams for a cross-border M&A transaction spanning APAC, EMEA and US teams.

Jun — Nov 2024

Legal & Compliance Counsel (Secondment)

AGL Energy (ASX-Listed) · Sydney

Counselled on risk mitigation for technology-enabled product launches, advised on platform builds and data privacy regulation including streamlining management and compliance processes across legal, privacy, and business stakeholders.

2022

Fellow

Startmate · Sponsored by Blackbird Ventures

Selected for Australia's leading startup fellowship. Embedded in the venture-backed ecosystem across software, AI, and deep tech companies — the experience that made me realise lawyers can also be builders.

2021

Legal Operations

Safewill Legal · Legal Tech Startup

Designed and implemented legal operations processes for a high-growth legal tech company, including document workflow optimisation and UI/UX review of legal content to improve the end-user experience.

Full career history on LinkedIn

What I've Built

Operations & Process

Legal Compliance Workflows

Built end-to-end compliance management workflows and plans for digital platform and AI chatbot companies, advising on technology and platform builds while designing processes to reduce legal bottlenecks for compliance across product, customer reps, and business stakeholders. Designed the process from scratch — not just the legal bits.

Legal OpsComplianceProcess DesignCross-Functional

Tech Contracting Playbooks

Built the infrastructure that didn't exist: negotiation playbooks, clause libraries, and position-tracking databases for recurring technology contracts. Designed to reduce turnaround time on repeat deal types and ensure consistency across teams — turning institutional knowledge that lived in people's heads into a searchable, reusable system so that any lawyer could pick up a deal and immediately see what had been agreed before, where the red lines were, and where there was room to move.

Legal OpsPlaybooksKnowledge ManagementProcess Design

Cross-Border Deal Coordination

Supported the regulatory workstream of a ~US$96 billion cross-border acquisition, acting as an intermediary coordinating across teams in the U.S., EMEA, and APAC from Singapore. Managed timelines, stakeholder alignment, and deliverables across six time zones and multiple external counsel.

Want to know more? Click here. →

M&AProject ManagementCross-Border

This Website

Designed and built from a single HTML file. No templates, no CMS, no WordPress. Hosted on Netlify with a custom domain. Because if you're going to talk about building things, you should probably build things.

HTML/CSSShipped It

Regulatory and Compliance Frameworks

Regulatory Map of Compliance Obligations for Online Content and AI Service Providers

Built this interactive regulatory map because the Online Safety Act framework is sprawling and cross-referential — and no one had created a single visual resource that showed how the pieces fit together. Designed to make the Act navigable for product, compliance, and legal teams who need to understand their obligations without reading 200 pages of legislation, and to give clients a practical tool for scoping their compliance exposure.

View the map →

Online Safety ActRegulatory MapInteractive

Regulatory Map of Compliance Obligations for Social Media Platforms

Built this interactive diagram because compliance teams were struggling to track overlapping obligations across the two Phase 2 codes and needed a single reference point to plan implementation. Translates the regulatory text into something a product team can actually use — mapping content moderation, reporting, transparency, and access requirements in one place and showing exactly which obligations apply to which platform types.

View the map →

SMS CodesPhase 2Interactive

Transactions

M&A Transactions & Due Diligence

Supported M&A transactions across technology, financial services, and infrastructure sectors — conducting technology due diligence, advising on regulatory approval workstreams, and coordinating deal processes across multiple jurisdictions. Experience spans multi-billion dollar acquisitions involving competition clearances, technology licence transfers and assignments, and cross-border regulatory coordination.

Want to know more? Click here. →

M&ADue DiligenceRegulatory

Data Centre Transactions

Advised on data centre and colocation agreements including master service agreements, service level frameworks, power and connectivity terms, and facility access arrangements. Experience spans hyperscale and enterprise data centre deals across APAC and EU markets.

Data CentresColocationAPACEU

Digital Infrastructure

Advised on legal frameworks for subsea cable and digital infrastructure — construction agreements, indefeasible rights of use, cable landing rights, and regulatory approvals across multiple jurisdictions.

Digital InfrastructureTelecoms

SaaS & AI Platform Contracts

Drafted and negotiated technology agreements for major digital platforms, AI chatbot providers, global banks, and enterprise tech companies. Built SaaS templates addressing AI-generated content ownership, usage restrictions, and IP provisions.

SaaSIP & AICommercial Law

Advisory

AI & Platform Compliance

Built regulatory compliance frameworks for generative AI chatbots and social media platforms under Australian online safety law. Designed scalable compliance architectures mapping obligations across content moderation, user reporting, transparency, age assurance, and restricted access systems.

Online Safety ActGenerative AIPlatform Regulation

Financial Services Compliance

Bridged the gap between prudential regulation and vendor management for major banks — advising on APRA compliance obligations across technology risk, outsourcing, and operational resilience, and negotiating directly with vendors to ensure contracts met regulatory requirements. The kind of work where you need to understand both the rules and the commercial reality.

APRAPrudential StandardsFinancial ServicesVendor Management

Data Privacy Advice

Advised digital platforms, energy companies, and enterprise technology clients on data privacy compliance, including privacy impact assessments, data handling frameworks, marketing obligations, and consumer data right regulation across Australian and cross-border contexts.

Data PrivacyPrivacy ActCDR

Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure Regulation

Developed information sharing frameworks and compliance templates under the SOCI Act, PSPF, and HCF regimes for technology and energy sector clients.

SOCI ActCyber SecurityCritical Infrastructure

Publications

Skills

Generalist

  • Cross-functional program management across legal, product, engineering, and finance
  • Stakeholder alignment and executive communication
  • Operational process design, implementation, and iteration
  • Vendor evaluation, negotiation, and partnership management
  • Board and investor reporting
  • People operations and team coordination
  • Prioritisation and decision-making under ambiguity
  • Context-switching across strategic and tactical workstreams
  • Business operations and growth strategy
  • OKR and KPI design, tracking, and reporting
  • Budget management and resource allocation
  • Workflow automation and tooling selection
  • Internal communications and change management

Technical

  • Compliance and Risk Advisory
  • Digital & AI platform advisory
  • Financial Services Regulation
  • Tech-focused cross-border contracting
  • SaaS licensing and software agreements
  • Data centre, telco, and digital infrastructure
  • Cybersecurity, data privacy, and online safety regulation
  • Technology procurement and outsourcing
  • IP ownership, protection, and licensing strategy
  • Legal operations and contract lifecycle management
  • Critical infrastructure regulation

Education

Admitted Solicitor — Supreme Court of NSW, High Court of Australia2023
Bachelor of Laws (Hons), UNSW2018—2022
Bachelor of Commerce (Hons), UNSW2018—2022

How I Switch Off

🏋️‍♀️

Strength Training

Compound lifts, structured programming, and the kind of consistency that carries over into everything else.

🎪

Lyra / Aerials

Equal parts strength, coordination, and problem-solving. Harder than it looks.

🥊

Boxing

Best reset button available. Full-body work with the side benefit of not thinking about contracts for an hour.

🧘

Reformer Pilates

Mobility, core work, and active recovery that keeps everything else moving well.

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