In an industry often accused of evolving too slowly, Laina Chan, CEO and Co-Founder of MiAi Law, is proving that the legal world doesn’t just need transformation, it’s ready for it.
From her early days researching in the Supreme Court Library to becoming a decorated barrister, author, and tech founder, Chan has combined tradition with innovation to reshape how legal professionals work. At the heart of her mission is MiAi Law, an AI-powered platform that delivers transparent, high-precision legal research in seconds, giving lawyers a powerful new advantage.
Unlike generic AI tools, MiAi Law leverages a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) model, which doesn’t just summarize; it retrieves curated cases, applies structured legal logic, and generates comprehensive, explainable reports. A senior lawyer at a top-tier firm once commented that the results came back “faster than eating a piece of sushi” and matched the quality of her own deep-dive research.
For small and regional firms, this innovation is game-changing. Chan has always been vocal about closing the resource gap in legal practice. With MiAi Law, firms once limited by geography or staffing can now access the kind of legal intelligence traditionally reserved for large city firms.
But Chan’s vision goes beyond automation. “AI won’t replace lawyers,” she’s said. “It frees them to focus on what matters, strategy, interpretation, and judgment.” This vision has earned her invitations to speak at the Australian Law Forum and collaborate with Sydney University on the future of legal education.
Her suggestion? Reverse-engineering AI reports in law classrooms, challenging students to critique, dissect, and debate the choices made by the system. The goal isn’t blind trust in technology, but deeper legal thinking enhanced by it.
With MiAi Law, Laina Chan is not just building a tool; she’s building a future where justice is more accessible, research is more efficient, and lawyers, especially women and regional practitioners, have a level playing field.
For Chan, innovation is not about disruption for disruption’s sake; it’s about empowerment.
