Electric scooter company Bird has hired its first chief legal officer: former Lyft Inc. vice president of government relations David Estrada. It's a move that seems to makes sense, given that Bird is positioned to potentially become the Lyft (or Uber) of the scooter industry.

Like Lyft, Bird faced regulatory uncertainty and pushback from local governments, including police citations and resident complaints, as it seeks to expand nationwide. The company recently raised $100 million in funding to expand across the U.S., according to a report from Forbes. For the time being, Bird, which allows users to locate and rent motorized scooters via an app, is only available in a few Southern California neighborhoods.

The Santa Monica, California-based company was founded by Estrada's fellow Lyft alum, Travis VanderZaden, who spent more than a year and a half as the ride-hailing company's chief operating officer. VanderZaden left Lyft for Uber Technologies Inc. in 2014, a year before Estrada.

At Lyft, Estrada's efforts led to about 30 state laws and 30 more city regulations that made ride-hailing legal, according to a Berkeley Law profile.

Before Lyft, Estrada worked as legal director for Google X, where he was involved in autonomous vehicle projects. In the Berkeley profile, one former Nevada state government official who had worked with Estrada to craft self-driving car regulations lauded him as “dynamic.”

“David reduced the volume of regulations from a Manhattan-sized phone book down to a very few strategic regulations, and it worked,” the official said. “We accepted almost all of his recommendations and changes.”

Most recently, Estrada was CLO and head of public policy for Kitty Hawk, which creates autonomous electric air vehicles.

Estrada, who grew up in the Bay Area, earned his law degree from UC Berkeley. Bird did not immediately responded to requests for comment.