Ms. Lyons is currently General Counsel to Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI). Over many years she has been involved at CNRI in the analysis of a wide range of legal and regulatory issues relating to the development of the Internet, including work on the establishment of the Internet Society and the provision of legal support to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Secretariat. Ms. Lyons has participated in the development of CNRI’s Digital Object Architecture so that it may be made available to interested parties around the world. She has also provided advice and guidance to CNRI with respect to a variety of trademark, patent, copyright and other general legal matters.

Ms. Lyons' interest in the application of copyright and related bodies of law to new technical developments began upon graduation from Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.1969), when she attended Columbia University Law School (1969-70) as the Burton Memorial Fellow in copyright and communications studies. She served as a legal officer in the Copyright Division of UNESCO (Paris, France; 1971-76) and in the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress (1976-87). Ms. Lyons was also a Partner in the communications law firm of Haley, Bader & Potts (1987-90).