Rita Antunes da Cunha

Rita Antunes is a Portuguese lawyer based in Brussels, holding a Master of Laws from Maastricht University and a Law degree from the Catholic University of Portugal, where she completed the Transnational Law Curriculum and graduated with honours.
Prior to joining Milieu in September 2026, Rita completed a Blue Book traineeship at the European Commission, within DG JUST. She was involved in the development and launch of the EU Anti Racism Strategy 2026-2030 and worked on legal and policy questions concerning equality and non-discrimination, in cooperation with EU institutions, Member States and civil society organisations.
She also worked at the United Nations in Nairobi, where she supported work on human rights and social inclusion in the context of sustainable urban development. Her work focused on legal and policy analysis and on assessing projects to ensure their compliance with fundamental rights’ standards throughout their development and implementation.
Previously, she began her legal career at PLMJ in Lisbon, where she worked first as a trainee lawyer and then as an associate lawyer. Her work covered criminal law and healthcare, life sciences and pharmaceuticals’ matters, including legal and regulatory analysis, compliance work, and the drafting of legal opinions, contracts and procedural documents. She also represented clients before administrative and judicial bodies, engaged with public authorities and other stakeholders, and authored more than 30 newsletters on legal and regulatory developments.
She is a native Portuguese speaker, fluent in English and Spanish, with basic knowledge of French.