Cáitrín McKiernan

Cáitrín McKiernan is a fluent Mandarin speaker who leads complex cross-border investigations and advises multinational companies on corporate compliance, AI governance, and doing business in Greater China. Her clients include leading global technology companies, and she knows how fast-moving tech companies work from the inside. In 2025, she completed a 10-month, partner-level secondment to OpenAI's Legal Compliance department. Before that, she spent a year seconded to a Fortune 10 technology company, where she led all of its ethics and compliance investigations across Asia Pacific.

Clients and industry publications regularly recognize her work. Global Investigations Review highlights her "extensive experience in compliance and investigations," reports that clients describe her as "outstanding," and named her to its 2025 Women in Investigations list. Legal 500 notes that she "excels in handling large internal investigations for US-listed companies" in Asia Pacific. The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) named her to its 2026 Rising List.

AI-Enabled Compliance and Cross-Border Investigations

Cáitrín advises multinational companies on deploying AI to make compliance programs and cross-border investigations more efficient and cost-effective. For example, she recently led a pilot in a cross-border investigation that compared a human-led document review with a generative AI-led review. The pilot produced measurable findings on the cost savings and value of AI, and it was shortlisted for the 2026 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers North America Awards. Her broader compliance practice includes multijurisdictional compliance reviews, compliance program development, proactive counseling, and interactive training in English and Mandarin Chinese.

She also co-hosts closed-door roundtables with leading chief compliance officers on how AI, including agentic AI, will shape the future of compliance.

More Than Three Decades of Engagement with Greater China

Cáitrín's connection to Greater China began in 1996, when she lived with a host family in Beijing, and she has since lived across the region. She earned her B.A. in Chinese History with highest honors from Stanford University. She then served as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Taiwan and a Fulbright Scholar in China, where she recorded oral histories in rural communities. She has practiced law in New York, California, and Hong Kong (as a registered foreign lawyer). She works directly in Chinese rather than through translators, which lets her handle sensitive matters with credibility and cultural fluency.

AI Governance

Cáitrín advises companies on AI governance, including designing frameworks that let them deploy AI and agentic AI systems responsibly and at scale.

Community and Mentorship

Cáitrín founded and hosts The Steptoe Coffee Club for Women in Law. This long-running monthly series brings prominent figures in the legal profession together with small, invitation-only groups of in-house counsel for candid, off-the-record conversations that support mentorship and professional development.