About

I code. I law. I am a 🦄.

That's not a joke. It's the most honest description I have.

I'm a corporate counsel in Singapore. I also build open source software — the kind that actually gets used. My redlineslibrary has 170,000 monthly downloads on PyPI and is featured in Andrew Ng's AI course. I was named an individual contributor to MinLaw's national Guide to AI after my consultation submission was adopted near-verbatim in the final document.

That combination isn't supposed to exist. But here we are.

What This Blog Is

Alt + Counsel is where I write about what legal technology actually looks like for practitioners without enterprise budgets, dedicated IT support, or an army of consultants.

Most legal tech content serves two audiences: BigLaw firms with unlimited resources, or academics writing about theory. Neither is wrong. But neither helps the solo counsel trying to automate contract reviews on a Tuesday night.

That's the gap I write into.

Two kinds of posts live here:

News commentary — when something happens in Singapore legal tech, I write about what the coverage misses and what it actually means for resource-constrained teams. The MinLaw AI Guide analysis. The $800 AI hallucination fine. Budget 2026. I try to say what others in the industry can't, or won't.

Learning in public — I share what I'm building, what failed, and what I'm still figuring out. Frameworks you can actually use. Honest about the gaps.

What I Build

Redlines — A free, open source Python library that produces track-changes-style diffs between two strings of text. Started as a side project of a side project. Now has 170K+ monthly PyPI downloads, 148 GitHub stars, and a top 10% quality ranking. I maintain it unpaid as BDFL.

SG Law Cookies — An AI-powered Singapore legal news platform. Daily updates. Built solo.

CoDraft — Open source legal drafting tool. Built with real-world constraints in mind.

data.zeeker.sg — Singapore's first public legal news API. 150+ hours of evenings and weekends. 500+ articles, automatic daily updates, $6–12/month to run. I never announced it. That's a separate story.

Everything I build is open source. Not because it's fashionable — because access to legal tools shouldn't depend on your firm's procurement budget.

My Background

I'm a corporate counsel with experience in legal operations, compliance, and data protection. I learned to code out of necessity — I needed to solve workflow problems that no existing tool addressed. That first automation project streamlined contract processes and contributed to my promotion. Everything since has built on that foundation.

In 2026, I was named an individual contributor to Singapore's national Guide to AI for the legal profession. I've spoken at a Drew & Napier client event, and I have been recognised as an OG Legal Quant. I don't say this to impress — I say it because I spent a long time introducing myself as the smaller version, and I'm trying to stop.

Who Reads This

Solo counsels, small legal teams, and in-house lawyers working with real constraints. Also, apparently, BigLaw developers who face the same nights-and-weekends reality at a different scale. And a growing number of readers in London, San Francisco, and New York who found their way here through the work.

If you're building something in the Singapore legal tech space, or you're a resource-constrained practitioner looking for solutions that actually fit your life — this is for you.

Let's Connect

I'm on LinkedIn and GitHub. If you want to go deeper, the newsletter is where the real work gets shared — including members-only implementation guides and tutorials.