[7] Chen has featured in Forbes[8] magazine, TEDx[9] talks and the National Business Review[10] (NBR) and was a finalist for the New Zealander of the year award.

[citation needed] Chen attended the University of Otago (New Zealand) and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws Honours degree (first class) in 1986.

Following Harvard Law School, Chen was awarded the Ferguson Human Rights Fellowship, a scholarship granted by the Harvard Human Rights Programme to be a Fellow at the International Labour Office in Geneva working on United Nations' Women's Convention and the ILO Indigenous Peoples Convention.

In 1990, she chaired a government review on the Policy of Excluding Women from Combat, and in 1992 she became the youngest senior lecturer in law in New Zealand at that time.

In 1993, she co-authored Public Law in New Zealand with former Prime Minister Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC, which was published by Oxford University Press.

[15] In 2024, Otago alumna and former member of the Faculty of Law, Dr Mai Chen established the Mai Chen Legal Innovation Award, which will be granted annually to the student who produces the most innovative piece of legal writing for an LLM or LLB(Hons) degree, dissertation, or a research and writing assignment for an LLB/LLB(Hons) degree.

The original piece of writing serves as a meaningful way of challenging or expanding the boundaries of established understanding and thinking about the Law.

Chen is founder and Chair of the Superdiversity Institute, and was the founder and previous chair of New Zealand Asian Leaders,[18] that connects top Asian NZ lawyers, CEOs and emerging leaders with New Zealand companies doing business in Asia to enhance their success to help NZ Inc. She also helped to establish the Pacifica Leadership Academy at BEST Pacific Institute of Education, formerly led by Beatrice Faumuina.

Chen, as part of her pro-bono work, organises and hosts a number of seminars and events across Auckland to bring together the New Zealand's top legal specialists.

Chen has done a wide range of pro bono work, including for the Auckland Zoo, New Zealand Endometriosis Foundation and He Huarahi Tamariki (the school for Teenage Parents in Tawa).

From 1982 to 1986 Chen did voluntary work with street kids referred by the Department of Social Welfare, including the establishment of a Modern Dance Group for girls [citation needed].