Alt + Counsel
Practical legal tech from Singapore. For teams that build solutions.

Latest

15
Jan
I Build Infrastructure. Jamie Vibe Codes Tools. Here's What I'm Missing.

I Build Infrastructure. Jamie Vibe Codes Tools. Here's What I'm Missing.

Jamie Tso built 4 legal AI tools in 2-3 months using vibe coding. My redlines library took 3 years. The 30-90x velocity gap comes down to one question: am I building a tool or infrastructure? Most lawyers ask infrastructure questions for tool problems.
8 min read
08
Jan
My 2026 Legal AI Predictions (From the Trenches, Not the Boardroom)

My 2026 Legal AI Predictions (From the Trenches, Not the Boardroom)

Stanford predicts AI's measurement era, Forbes predicts transformation, Above the Law warns about hallucinations. Nobody's predicting what will actually happen for resource-constrained practitioners. Here are five testable predictions with public accountability.
8 min read
31
Dec
October 3 Changed Everything: How One $800 Fine Flipped Singapore's AI Coverage from Adoption to Accountability

October 3 Changed Everything: How One $800 Fine Flipped Singapore's AI Coverage from Adoption to Accountability

On October 3, 2025, a Singapore lawyer paid $800 after an AI hallucination reached court. That single sanction flipped legal coverage from 89% adoption focus to 82% accountability warnings in eight weeks.
11 min read
26
Dec
When Building Gets Cheap But Knowing Stays Expensive

When Building Gets Cheap But Knowing Stays Expensive

In 2024, I spent hours crafting a 3-page prompt to generate an M&A term sheet for a legal tech competition. The result was a 4-page HTML document with timeline diagrams, color-coded risk tables (red/yellow/green), and professional typography that no standard Word template could match.
6 min read
22
Nov
What I Learned at SMU's Legal Database Launch (And My Decision About zeeker.sg)

What I Learned at SMU's Legal Database Launch (And My Decision About zeeker.sg)

After 150+ hours building data.zeeker.sg, I attended SMU's SOLID database launch to see institutional legal data infrastructure in action. I applied my decision framework and made my choice: I'm continuing. Here's what I learned about when solo builders should persist alongside institutions.
9 min read
14
Nov
Building data.zeeker.sg: Technical Architecture

Building data.zeeker.sg: Technical Architecture

The complete technical stack behind Singapore's first public legal news API: zeeker CLI standardizes data collection, Datasette serves SQLite straight from S3, and canned queries make legal research accessible without SQL. Built solo, runs on $6-12/month, designed to scale from 1 to many sources.
21 min read
10
Nov
When Institutions Enter Your Passion Project Space

When Institutions Enter Your Passion Project Space

Domain renewal: $110. But the real cost is over 150 hours and zero users. Now SMU is building what I tried solo. Here's my framework for deciding: continue, collaborate, or gracefully close.
7 min read
30
Oct
I Built CLI Tools for Claude Code. Here's What I Learned About Designing for AI Users

I Built CLI Tools for Claude Code. Here's What I Learned About Designing for AI Users

I built agent-friendly interfaces for my Python library following every recommended pattern—JSON output, discovery commands, enhanced errors. Then Claude hallucinated flags that don't exist and ignored the documentation I wrote for it.
7 min read
27
Oct
What Top 10% Actually Means (For a Lawyer Who Codes)

What Top 10% Actually Means (For a Lawyer Who Codes)

177K monthly downloads. Top 10% of 700K packages. Zero revenue, one maintainer, weekend work. Here's what "success" actually means for open source maintainers—and what I'd tell anyone considering building their own tools.
5 min read
21
Oct
Why Prompt Engineering Felt Wrong (And What Skills Changed)

Why Prompt Engineering Felt Wrong (And What Skills Changed)

I sat in a standing-room-only prompt engineering workshop feeling anxious—not because I was behind, but because I don't use any of these frameworks. Turns out my instinct was right. That same month, the technology shifted from prompts to persistent agent skills
4 min read