Maria is a dual qualified lawyer (England and Wales, New Zealand) with over 20 years of post-qualification experience. She is currently a Legal Director at Crescent Petroleum, the first and largest private upstream oil and gas company in the region, where she advises the C-suite and senior management on legal and risk issues arising from the company’s activities and operations. Maria was previously a Head of Legal at the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the UK’s largest banks (and a FTSE 100 listed company), where she led a 37-strong legal team. Prior to her in-house career, Maria worked for top-ranked international arbitration and litigation teams in US-headquartered and international law firms in both the UK and New Zealand. She also has prior experience in international trade and foreign policy as part of New Zealand’s diplomatic corps. Maria is a CEDR-accredited mediator, sits as an independent arbitrator, and holds an Executive Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD. She is a member and secretary of the Board of Directors for the Association of Corporate Counsel’s MENA Chapter, a member of the Board of Directors for the Chief Legal Officer UAE Membership Board at Winmark, a non-executive Director for a UK-registered community interest company, and a Trustee of a UK-registered charity.