Maria is a Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution team in Dubai, having practiced in the UAE for 10 years. She has a wide ranging experience of general commercial litigation in the South African Courts, onshore UAE Courts, DIFC Courts, the ADGM Courts and in arbitrations under the rules of the major arbitral institutions such the LCIA, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC and the ICC.

Maria has acted for major international corporations, airlines, banks and high net worth individuals, on a variety of complex, high value disputes (often with multi-jurisdictional implications), including but not limited to: real estate disputes, insurance disputes, shareholder disputes, commercial agency disputes, information technology disputes, trade finance and shipping disputes and disputes between hotel owners and hotel operators.

Maria also regularly advises on: (i) multi-jurisdictional enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards in the onshore UAE Courts, in the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts and in the Abu Dhabi Global Market Courts and (ii) strategy for asset recovery and/or enforcement.

Maria is registered as an attorney with the Law Society of the Northern Provinces in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a Legal Consultant with the Dubai Legal Affairs Department and as a legal practitioner with the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts.

Maria was appointed by DIAC in 2024 to act as a sole arbitrator in an arbitration between two well-known media/film production companies. The governing law of the contract was English Law and the seat of the Arbitration was the DIFC.