With over 20 years’ experience working in the EU regulatory environment, Francine Cunningham leads Bird & Bird’s Regulatory & Public Affairs practice and divides her time between Brussels and Dublin. Francine advises enterprises on how to prepare for new digital and data-related regulation and understand the practical application of incoming rules to their sectors. She helps businesses to navigate complex EU decision-making processes and is a regular writer on issues related to legal framework for digital services and IP. Francine joined Bird & Bird in 2018 from the U.S. Mission to the European Union where she worked as a senior IP specialist for the U.S. Commerce Department. She previously ran a trade association in the European news media sector. Francine holds an LLM on Intellectual Property & ICT Law from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and a master’s degree in UK, EU and US Copyright Law from King’s College London. She is also a former Fulbright Scholar at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.