Mai is a senior law partner, a board director and Chair the Superdiversity Institute of Law, Policy and Business. Formerly, the Managing Partner of Chen Palmer and an independent non-executive Director on the Bank of New Zealand Board for seven years, Mai continues to sit on Boards and is the President of New Zealand Asian Lawyers. 

Mai served on the Trade for All Advisory Board appointed by the Minister for Trade in 2019- 2020. She was a director on the Advisory Board of AMP Life Limited, and a member of the New Zealand Securities Commission for two terms. She served on the Asia New Zealand Foundation, the New Zealand Advisory Board to the Beachheads programme for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, was a Trustee on the Royal New Zealand Ballet Board, and served on the Academic Board of Victoria University of Wellington and was the Ministerial appointee to the Wellington Polytechnic Council. 

Mai was inaugural Chair of New Zealand Global Women and was placed on the Global Diversity List Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life, in the Global Diversity List 2016 (affiliated with the Global Diversity Awards, supported by The Economist. She was twice a finalist in New Zealander of the Year. She was Adjunct Professor at the University of Auckland Law School and the School of Business, and previously Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington. 

Mai has appeared before the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and District Court, in the Waitangi Tribunal, the Human Rights Tribunal, the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority, the Employment Relations Authority, the Disciplinary Tribunal of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Immigration and Protection Tribunal. She has authored many books, reports, and papers and appears regularly in the media as a commentator on legal, regulatory and diversity issues.  

Mai specializes in advising on regulatory and Government risk and is a constitutional and employment law expert. 

Mai was born in Taiwan and immigrated to NZ with her family when she was a young girl speaking only Mandarin.