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Christine M. Gill is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Washington, D.C. office. She is a member of the Firm's Telecommunications Practice Group, where she specializes in telecommunications and technology law and regulation.
Christine has an active regulatory practice, primarily representing clients before the Federal Communications Commission, the federal courts and the Congress. She has represented a wide variety of corporate clients on the legal aspects of telecommunications technologies, including wireless, fiber, satellite and other emerging technologies, the formation of new telecommunications ventures, communications privacy, and strategies for spectrum acquisition. Christine's clients include wireless carriers, private system operators, electric utilities, fiber network owners, and BPL entities. Christine also counsels clients on transactional issues, and has negotiated agreements on various telecommunications- and spectrum-related services.
Christine's recent appellate experience includes representation of companies in challenges to rulemakings conducted by the Federal Communications Commission. For example, Christine represented a coalition of electric utility companies in National Cable & Telecomms. Ass'n v. Gulf Power Co., 534 U.S. 782 (2002), Gulf Power Co. v. United States, 187 F.3d 1324 (11th Cir. 1999) and Southern Co. v. FCC, 293 F.3d 1338 (11th Cir. 2002). She represented Southern Company in a successful challenge to an FCC rule in Fresno Mobile Radio, Inc., et al,.v. FCC, 165 F.3d 965 (D.C. Cir. 1999).
Christine regularly speaks at industry conferences. Recent speaking engagements include: Airports and Tenants: Working Out the Right Business Model and Relationship," Wireless Airport Association Conference & Expo, November 2004; "Regulatory Update: Wireless Equipment Under the Pole Attachments Act," Western Energy Institute Joint Use Meeting, September 2004; and The Public vs. Private Network Debate: The Right Answer for Utilities," UTC Telecom 2004, May 2004.
Christine is the author of Satellite Regulatory Compendium (Phillips Publishing, 1985).
Christine is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, the Federal Communications Bar Association and the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia. She is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Representative Experience:
800 MHz Public Safety Interference Proceeding - Representation of clients in an FCC rulemaking proceeding concerning interference issues in the 800 MHz radio band. This has involved hundreds of parties and extensive briefings on legal, technical and policy issues at the FCC and on Capitol Hill. While the proceeding is far from resolved, the MWE telecommunications team has been particularly successful in building a coalition supporting an alternative to a costly proposal advanced by a Fortune 300 wireless carrier and others that had considerable momentum at the outset.
MTE Proceeding - Representation of clients opposed to an FCC proposal to review mandatory access by competitive carriers to multi-tenant commercial business and apartment buildings.
Services Contract - Representation of a major national telecommunications carrier in negotiating a multi-million dollar consolidated agreement, which will greatly simplify the formerly disparate agreement structure.
Settlement of slamming case - Representation of a non-profit organization in a dispute with a telecommunications provider over an unauthorized switch of services, which resulted in negotiation of a significantly reduced amount in settlement of the claim.
Licensee Compliance - Representation of a national food retailer in regard to FCC regulatory compliance issues, resulting in resolution of a nationwide wireless licensing issue and development and implementation of compliance protocols to provide long term protection from further problems.
FCC Wireless Auction - Representation of a company in the FCC's auction of commercial paging licenses, including development of bidding strategies that resulted in the client successfully purchasing over 100 new market-based licenses.
Pole Attachments - Representation of an infrastructure owner in a complex multi-million dollar complaint case addressing the FCC's mandatory access regulations for utility infrastructure and make-ready construction services.
Broadband Over Power Lines - Review of regulatory issues associated with the new technology of Broadband Over Power Lines, which could be a new competitive offering in the market force for broadband capacity to the home.
Spectrum Efficiency Rulemaking - Representation of utility clients in an FCC rulemaking proceeding designed to mandate heightened spectrum use efficiency standards. The FCC was persuaded to exempt our clients' most valued spectrum bands from a mandated and costly transition to a new technical framework.
Education:
American University-Washington College of Law, J.D., 1976
Manhattanville College and State University of New York -Albany, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1971 | 