When people think of legal careers in technology companies, they often imagine lawyers reacting to problems: putting out fires, blocking risks, or saying “no.” But at Zoho, the legal function has been quietly shaping the company’s philosophy for nearly two decades.
At the heart of this approach is Mary Mayiladumpara, General Counsel at Zoho, who joined the company in 2006, long before terms like data privacy, AI governance, or global compliance became everyday boardroom conversations. Today, as Zoho operates across dozens of countries and serves millions of users worldwide, Mary’s role reflects a rare blend of law, technology, strategy, and long-term thinking.
In a candid conversation with Indian Startup Times, she spoke about her unconventional career path, the realities of building an in-house legal function from scratch, and what the future holds for young legal professionals in an AI-driven world.
Choosing Law When Everyone Else Chose Engineering
Mary’s journey into law was not part of a grand plan. At a time when most students were choosing engineering or medicine, she decided to do something different.
“I wanted to do something off the beaten track,” she recalls. “Law wasn’t a popular choice back then.”
After completing her law degree in 2005, she explored multiple short stints before an unexpected call from Zoho changed everything. At the time, Zoho was already a 500-employee company with significant revenue, and looking for a lawyer who can set up & scale the in-house legal team.
For Mary, joining Zoho came with uncertainty. She had no background in computer science and would be the only lawyer in a fast-growing tech company. Still, the challenge intrigued her. That decision would define the next two decades of her career.
Learning the Language of Technology
Rather than letting her lack of technical background become a limitation, Mary chose to address it head-on. While working full-time at Zoho, she enrolled in an MCA program at Anna University, Chennai, attending weekend classes and completing hands-on practical work.
“I didn’t do it to become a software engineer,” she explains. “I did it so I could understand how technology actually works.”
From building applications to understanding servers and databases, the experience helped her bridge a critical gap, allowing her to speak the same language as engineers and product teams. That insider understanding, she says, transformed the way she approached legal problems.
In tech companies, law does not operate in isolation. Whether it’s data breaches, AI audits, or regulatory inquiries, legal teams must understand how systems work before they can advise on what should be done.
What a General Counsel at Zoho Really Does
As General Counsel, Mary oversees virtually every legal aspect of Zoho’s global operations, excluding taxation and secretarial compliance, which are handled by separate teams.
Her responsibilities span:
- Employment and labor laws across countries
- Global data protection and privacy regulations
- Cybersecurity and AI governance
- Property due diligence, Contract negotiations and compliance frameworks
- Law enforcement and government data requests
- Investments, acquisitions, and new business verticals
Zoho’s legal team handles around 300 legal tickets every day, ranging from simple NDAs to complex international regulatory research. To manage this scale, Mary has helped build a structured legal operations system, matching tasks to individual strengths, ensuring timely delivery, and constantly refining internal processes.
“A legal team at this scale cannot function without systems,” she says. “Delivery matters as much as expertise.”
Thinking Globally, Acting Strategically
One of the defining features of Zoho’s legal function is its global scope: a model that was established when Zoho decided to scale its sales, support, and customer-facing functions from India to serve global markets. Legal was an integral part of this global-first strategy, and Mary’s role was essential in building the framework to scale global operations directly from India. Unlike multinational companies that are not headquartered in India, where regional legal teams follow decisions made at headquarters abroad, Zoho’s strategic legal decisions are made in India, working with regional business teams.
“We decide what is acceptable, what is not, and how compliance will actually be implemented,” Mary explains.
This close integration with product teams gives Zoho an edge, allowing legal frameworks to be built into products from the ground up, rather than retrofitted later.
A Defining Legal Battle Without Filing a Case
Among the many challenges Mary has faced, one incident stands out.
A major global platform, acquired by one of the world’s largest software companies, decided to terminate a key API integration that Zoho’s customers relied on. Initial legal advice suggested there was little Zoho could do.
But Mary wasn’t convinced.
Drawing on her experience with European law, Mary recognised that the issue looked different through a European lens. Interoperability carries particular importance in Europe, and this gave her reason to believe the decision could be contested. Working against time and during the holiday season, she prepared a strong legal notice outlining how the move could be challenged as anti-competitive under European law.
Zoho never had to file the case.
The notice itself was enough to bring the other company to the table. The integration was extended, discussions resumed, and Zoho retained a critical feature for its users.
“It wasn’t about litigation,” Mary reflects. “It was about thinking differently and acting before it was too late.”
Privacy as a Philosophy, Not a Compliance Checkbox
Zoho’s strong stance on user privacy is often cited as a differentiator, but Mary reveals that this philosophy was embedded long before regulations like GDPR existed. She had joined around the time the initial cloud-based services were being launched and one of her initial tasks was to write the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for the cloud-based services. When she drafted the privacy policy in 2006, she explicitly asked founder Sridhar Vembu whether the company would ever monetize user data through targeted advertising.
His answer was unequivocal.
“That decision shaped everything,” she says. “We committed to respecting user data at a time when no law required it.”
This early choice led to practices such as full data portability, minimal lock-ins, and transparent policies, years before they became regulatory requirements.
India’s Regulatory Environment: Opportunity and Gaps
Mary believes India offers a relatively business-friendly environment for building global tech companies, especially with flexible labor regulations that support round-the-clock operations.
However, she points out a critical gap: data protection credibility.
“For Indian startups aiming for global markets, where data is stored matters,” she notes. “India still needs stronger data protection laws that inspire global confidence.”
Until then, many companies will continue to rely on overseas data centers to meet international expectations.
Advice for Young Law Graduates in an AI Era
Mary is candid about the future: AI will reduce the demand for junior-level legal work. As AI handles the lower-level mechanics of law, professional legal skills are being abstracted up a layer. AI can synthesize vast amounts of data to offer various strategic directions, but it cannot exercise wisdom. The future belongs to the lawyer who can look at machine-generated possibilities, discern the most principled path, and have the professional courage to stand behind that choice and own the consequences.
So, what does Mary believe truly sets future-ready lawyers apart?
- Focus on deep understanding, not rote learning
- Develop strong analytical and logical reasoning skills
- Learn to translate law into practical business actions
- Communicate clearly and simply, without legal jargon
- Gain real-world exposure as early as possible
“Just having a law degree will not be enough,” she says. “You need to think like a problem-solver, not just a lawyer.”
A Career Built on Curiosity and Commitment
After nearly 20 years at Zoho, Mary Mayiladumpara’s journey stands as a reminder that meaningful careers are rarely linear. By choosing to learn continuously, think strategically, and align law with long-term values, she has helped shape one of India’s most respected tech companies from within.
In a world obsessed with rapid exits and quick wins, her story underscores a quieter truth: sometimes, the most powerful impact comes from staying and building over the long term.
-Interview conducted by Shivani Solanki
