Sam Clearwater

Kiwi Sam Clearwater can claim some of the most impressive credentials of any technology and AI lawyer in the world.

The University of Auckland graduate, named this year as a rising star at the New York Legal Awards, is the lead AI lawyer at global investment and technology development firm the D. E. Shaw group in the Big Apple.

Last year he was named among Bloomberg Law’s “top 40 under 40” lawyers in the US, one of only two technology specialists to make the list.

“I am passionate about the intersection of law and technology and eroding the belief that lawyers can’t be experts in the underlying tech,” says Sam.

He disproved that generalisation early in his career while advising on a US$1.1 billion project to modernise Transport for London’s Underground ticketing systems. Sam took the advice of a colleague to master the complex contactless payment technologies.

“With that technical basis, I was able to add real value to both the client’s engineering and legal teams,” he says.

But he never imagined he would become an AI specialist – “not least because the field was non-existent when I began my legal studies”.

What he did know was he wanted to work overseas and pursue professional excellence. That’s meant a circuitous journey from Auckland Law School to the D. E. Shaw group, ranked by Investopedia as one of the top five hedge funds in the world, where he is a senior vice president.

“I studied in Auckland and Copenhagen, have worked in the UK, France, Senegal, Japan and the US, and am admitted as a lawyer in California, England and Wales, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia,” says Sam.

His professional journey included a detour into international law, which he studied under Professor Treasa Dunworth, leading to a six-month sabbatical in West Africa investigating war crimes and human rights violations with Human Rights Watch.

Sam’s Bloomberg Law recognition focused on his decade of work at Google, including five years at Area 120, the company’s former startup incubator. As part of the investment team, he was de facto general counsel for more than 40 portfolio companies. This included advising on the global launch of Aloud, which uses AI to translate and dub videos into multiple languages.

“This was before the current AI boom and accompanying regulation, so it required novel consideration of how existing privacy and copyright laws might apply to this innovative product,” Sam says.

In early 2023 he moved to Google Research, the search giant’s AI lab, where he worked on foundational models such as Gemini and advised on the launch of a free AI-powered language tutor that converses with users and provides real-time feedback.

He also served as the sole lawyer for Google’s climate and crisis response AI projects, including several focused on mitigating the damaging effects of flooding and wildfires.

Before he joined Google, Sam worked at global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills in London, Paris and Tokyo, advising large technology companies.

Now as the D. E. Shaw group’s lead AI lawyer he aims “to further strengthen the firm’s already-stellar reputation” and continue to develop his expertise and reputation in AI.

He is already making a significant mark, co-authoring the official course for the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ AI Governance Professional certification.

“In 2023 I was appointed to the UK Law Society’s technology and law committee and AI working group, where I advise on policy, legal and ethical debates concerning technology and the law.”

Being listed as co-inventor on two pending AI patent filings for machine learning models he helped develop at Google is also a source of pride.

“Both Google and the D. E. Shaw group hire brilliant people from a diverse range of academic and professional backgrounds. Working with cross-functional teams on the future of AI is incredibly exciting,” Sam says.