Angelika Niebler (née Rupertseder; born 18 February 1963) is a German lawyer and politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1999. She is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, part of the European People's Party. Since 2015, she has been serving as her party's deputy chairwoman, under the leadership of successive chairmen Horst Seehofer and Markus Söder. Education 1988: First state law examination 1991: Second state law examination 1992: Doctor of law, dissertation: Der Einsatz einer Expertensystemshell im Gesetzgebungsverfahren (English: "The use of expert systems in legislative procedure") Professional career Niebler practiced with Lovells from 1991 to 1997 and – as Salary Partner – with Beiten Burkhardt from 1997 to 2004. From 2004 to 2015, she worked at Bird & Bird’s Munich office. In September 2015, she joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Munich office as of counsel, where she supports the firm's Media, Entertainment & Technology Group as well as the Privacy, Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection Group. In addition to practicing law, Niebler has been a visiting lecturer on Intellectual / Industrial Property Rights (IPR) at the Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM) since August 2016. Political career Early political career since 1995: Member of the Upper Bavaria CSU district executive (since 2011 under the leadership of Ilse Aigner) since 1999: Chairman of the Women's Union of Upper Bavaria district and member of the Land executive of the Women's Union in Bavaria since 1999: Congress delegate and member of the executive, European People's Party since 1996: Member of Ebersberg district council Member of the European Parliament, 1999–present Since 1999, Niebler has been a Member of the European Parliament, where she has since served as the CDU/CSU Group parliamentary business manager in the EPP-ED Group at the European Parliament, and as member of the CDU/CSU Group and EPP-ED Group Executive. Niebler sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. She is a substitute for the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. Between 2007 and 2009, Niebler served as chairwoman of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy; she was later replaced by Herbert Reul. In 2006, she was the author of the industry committee's report on the seventh Framework Program for Research and Technological Development, totalling €50.5 billion. From 2010 to 2012, she led the European Parliament's