Kirsten is a partner in FMC’s Ottawa office and the head of FMC’s Communications Law Practice Group. Kirsten maintains an extensive practice in telecommunications, broadcasting, international trade and competition law. She has worked in both the telecommunications and broadcasting industries for over 20 years and was formerly Director of Regulatory Matters and Legal Counsel at AT&T Canada Corp. Kirsten has also held positions at the former federal Department of Communications, Telesat Canada, the Canadian Independent Telephone Association and the Canadian Film Institute.

Kirsten represents a number of major domestic and international telecommunications and broadcasting clients, including local and long distance carriers, resellers, Internet service providers, wireless carriers, broadcasters, cable and satellite companies, content providers, telecommunications equipment manufacturers and several Canadian industry associations. Kirsten has also been involved in a number of major Canadian telecommunications industry transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, IPOs and other debt and equity financings.

Kirsten is the Past-Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s Media and Communications Law Section, and a member of the Government of Canada’s Sectoral Advisory Group on International Trade (SAGIT) for the Information and Communications Technologies sectors. She is an active member of the National Capital Association of Communications Lawyers, and the Steering Committee of the biennial conference on Communications Law sponsored by the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian Bar Association. Kirsten is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa and the University of Windsor. She is a frequent speaker at Canadian and international industry seminars on a variety of telecommunications and broadcasting regulatory issues.

Kirsten is a recipient of the Jeanne Sauvé Award in Communications and she is listed among the experts for Communications law referenced in a number of publications, including the Chambers Global: The Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, LEXPERT Canada, The Best Lawyers in Canada, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Telecommunications Lawyers, Guide to the World’s Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers, PLC’s Cross-border Communications and IT Handbook and the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers.