Partners

Cheryl Seah

Director, Corporate & Finance

Key Practices

Qualifications

  • LL.B. (Hons), National University of Singapore (2012)

Cheryl is a Director with the Corporate & Finance Department in Drew & Napier.  

Her key areas of practice are Telecommunications, Media & Technology (TMT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Trust and Administrative & Public Law.

Cheryl advises clients on regulatory matters, ranging from cybersecurity to payment services to gaming. She also advises clients on legal issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence, from compliance with Singapore’s data protection laws when using AI to process personal data, to intellectual property and liability issues.

Before joining the firm in 2022, Cheryl was a State Counsel/Legislative Drafter in the Legislation Division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (Singapore’s national law drafting office). For 8 years, she has advised Ministries and Statutory Boards on their policies, helping them to manage the legal risks of their policies, and proposing alternatives where the legal risk is high. She drafts the necessary legislation which is then published if the policy also requires a change in the law.

Cheryl has advised on and drafted legislation across a wide variety of subjects, with a focus on transport (including autonomous vehicles), infrastructure, technology and civil procedure.

Cheryl is also familiar with leading and organising projects, having successfully worked with internal and external stakeholders to deliver a significant national project – the 2020 Revised Edition of Acts – Singapore’s largest revision of laws to date, spanning 510 Acts with 27,000 pages. 

Prior to becoming a Legislative Drafter, Cheryl was a Deputy Public Prosecutor. Cheryl graduated from the National University of Singapore and was placed third in the 2012 Singapore Bar Examinations.

  • Co-drafted the Rules of Court 2021, which span over 600 pages and introduce significant reforms to the civil justice system
  • Assisted in the drafting of the Cross-Border Railways Act 2018 to implement the $17 billion cross-border high speed rail project between Singapore and Malaysia; advised stakeholders on financing and operational issues, as well as on how to address representations sent in from members of the public and corporations on the impact of the project
  • Drafted legislation with respect to the first autonomous vehicle trial under the Active Mobility Act 2017, where the autonomous vehicle ferries passengers between attractions at Gardens by the Bay
  • Advised a legal technology company on the deployment of their large language model product in Singapore to provide legal services. In particular, helping it to set boundaries on its services offered so that it will not fall afoul of unauthorised practice of law provisions in the Legal Profession Act 1966, designing measures to reduce its potential liability for incorrect output, and advising on its present and future arrangements for data storage and data processing both overseas and in Singapore
  • Advised a multinational corporation on mitigating the intellectual property and liability issues arising from the implementation of a ChatGPT-like system in the workplace to answer questions and generate documents and code
  • Member, Law Society of Singapore
  • Member, Law Society of Singapore Information Technology Committee
  • Member, Law Society of Singapore Publications Committee
  • Member, Singapore Academy of Law
  • Member, Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel 

  • “Liability arising from the use of artificial intelligence” in the Singapore Law Gazette, May 2023

  • “Artificial Intelligence: Learned Friend or Foe?” in the Singapore Law Gazette, August 2023

  • “Navigating the Ever-evolving AI Landscape: What Lawyers and Businesses in Singapore Should Know” in the Singapore Law Gazette, September 2023

  • "Generative AI: An Evaluation of the Current Solutions to Address the Intellectual Property Challenges it Generates” in the Singapore Law Gazette, November 2023

  • "Round Up of Significant Legal Developments in AI for 2023” in the Singapore Law Gazette, December 2023 

  • "Liability for AI-generated Content” in the Singapore Law Gazette, March 2024

  • Chambers Global Practice Guides – Artificial Intelligence 2023 (Singapore) – co-authored the inaugural Singapore chapter

  • Global Legal Insights – AI, Machine Learning & Big Data Laws and Regulations 2023 (Singapore)

  • The Legal 500 – Artificial Intelligence Guide 2023 (Singapore) – co-authored the inaugural Singapore chapter

  • “Singapore’s 2020 Revised Edition of Acts” in the Journal of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel, June 2022 (Issue No. 1 of 2022)