DUPUI TOUBO BARBI FIEDL LEMAR MOLEBLOCH

Their core work

Bird & Bird (trading as DUPUI TOUBO BARBI FIEDL LEMAR MOLEBLOCH under French partnership law) is an international law firm with a strong technology and life sciences practice. In EU research projects, they contribute legal and regulatory expertise — drafting cloud service agreement frameworks, advising on health data governance, and ensuring compliance with digital regulation. Their H2020 involvement spans both cloud computing legal models (SLALOM) and big data health platforms (SMART BEAR), confirming a focused niche: the intersection of ICT law and digital health regulation. For research consortia, they provide the legal architecture that makes complex data-sharing and technology deployment legally viable.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 engagement (2015-2016), Bird & Bird focused on foundational digital infrastructure law — specifically the legal models underpinning cloud service agreements, with no health dimension. By 2019, their focus had shifted decisively toward health data and personalised digital health systems, reflecting the broader regulatory wave around GDPR enforcement and the EU's push on digital health platforms. The trend is a move from generic ICT legal models toward the more specialised and regulated space of health data, connected devices, and AI-driven interventions.

Bird & Bird is moving deeper into digital health law — likely positioning for EU AI Act compliance work, medical device software regulation, and cross-border health data frameworks, making them a valuable legal partner for any health-tech or data-intensive consortium.

How they like to work

Bird & Bird never coordinates EU projects — they enter as a third party or participant, brought in for defined legal work packages rather than project leadership. With 46 distinct consortium partners across 10 countries from just 2 projects, their network exposure is disproportionately wide, suggesting they are welcomed into large, multi-stakeholder consortia where legal expertise is a prerequisite. This makes them a reliable specialist contributor: predictable scope, high credibility, no competition for coordination roles.

Despite only two projects, Bird & Bird has touched 46 unique partners spanning 10 countries — a sign they joined sizeable, pan-European consortia where legal expertise was a mandatory component. Their network is broad relative to their project count, skewed toward ICT and health research actors.

What sets them apart

Bird & Bird occupies a rare position: a commercially successful international law firm that actively participates in EU-funded research, rather than just advising clients who do. This means they bring live regulatory knowledge combined with practical project experience — not just academic legal analysis. For consortia building health-tech, cloud, or data platforms, they offer a legal partner who already understands how EU research projects work internally, which reduces friction significantly compared to engaging an outside law firm.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SMART BEAR
  A large Innovation Action running to 2025, focused on big data and AI for independent living in older adults — Bird & Bird's most substantive EU research role and their entry into the digital health regulatory space.
• SLALOM
  An early CSA project on cloud SLA legal models that established Bird & Bird's credibility as a legal contributor to EU digital infrastructure research.