Ms. Esbin is Managing Partner of Cinnamon Mueller’s Washington, D.C., office.  She advises clients on the Federal Communication Commission’s broadband Internet regulations, cable and telecommunications regulatory matters, and access to content, both traditional and online.  Prior to joining Cinnamon Mueller, Esbin spent two years as Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank studying communications law and policy in the digital age, where she was Director of the Center for Communications and Competition Policy.  Ms. Esbin also served for over fourteen years at the FCC, most recently as Special Counsel in the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s Market Disputes Resolution Division.  Before joining the Enforcement Bureau, she spent four years as Associate Bureau Chief at the Commission’s Media Bureau.  There, Esbin represented the Bureau on a number of inter-agency initiatives and led the review of several major industry mergers and rulemakings addressing cable and broadband competition issues.  She has also served as Associate Bureau Chief of the FCC’s Cable Services Bureau, Special Counsel for Competition and Senior Policy Advisor in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and Attorney-Advisor and Assistant Tariff Division Chief in the Common Carrier Bureau.  Between her two FCC engagements, Ms. Esbin was in private practice, specializing in cable and broadband regulatory issues and, prior to joining the FCC, specializing in electric utility regulation.  Barbara held judicial clerkships on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court, respectively.  She received her J.D. from the Duke University School of Law and her B.A. from Antioch College.

E-mail: besbin@cm-chi.com