Melanie Maslem

I design and build tools that address the gap between the law on paper and the law in practice

My first company built tools to design academic research for improved translation. It took 13 years. My second used AI to enchance payments compliance in the construction industry, and took just over 13 weeks from day one to acquisition.

I started out in magic circle law and tier 1 investment teams, structuring private transactions to navigate regulatory and systemic hooks in emerging markets.

I’m building a simulation with Macquarie University’s Legal Innovation Clinic, exploring how accountability works inside government decision-making and serve on Bond University's Human Research Ethics Committee.

Find me on LinkedIn.

Projects
Larping x lawAdvocacy ArenaLegal simulations drawing out the gap between rules and reality Policy x PerspectivesBystancePick up another point of view Finance x PlumbingFrameFormaSee what happens when the structure meets the system Deals x DecisionsMandamapRegulatory intelligence layer for transaction clearance Potholes x PowerThe GovernmentalityLocal government legibility Machinery x MomentumMogmentumVisualise the machinery of government Bricks x MemoryDwellTellA living logbook for homes puzzles x pavementsRogue BluffCry Hueman is an immersive puzzle hunt through the Sydney CBD parks x powerBalmainopolisThe parks are in play. Power moves collide with karmic retribution, until a tax lobbyist sets their sights on your side of Thames Street. curiosity x capabilityResearch MagnetGood questions are under-infrastructured. Let’s identify, frame and route them. paperwork x principleReetreConsider ethics as the proposal paperwork begins sports - rortsThe Fair Dinkum Sports ClubA lobby-free zone for sports with politicians & staffers. Back Summer 26/27.
Good Reads
Debt: The First 5,000 YearsWe have designed the financial tools we use today. We can design them differently. For ProfitThe role of the company in the making of the modern world. Thinking in SystemsWhat would Donella have thought if she had lived to see the systems we have made? Emergency SexI picked this up in the airport on the way to start a job on the conventional path. Tell me there are no angels. The Chickenshit ClubAn unlawful campaign promises more than an affordable, negotiable sanction deters. The Nonsense FactoryWhat would it take to make the law respectable? How Westminster Works …and Why It Doesn’tThere are lots of reasons for why things happen and lots of reasons for why they shouldn't. Näku Dhäruk: The Bark PetitionsThe power dynamics and practices of the bureaucrats who stomped on diplomatic outreach. The PrecipiceThe risks are planetary. Our responsible institutions are not.