Maria Stavropoulou is a qualified barrister (Inns of Court School of Law/ Lincoln’s Inn) and solicitor and has been working in the shipping industry since 2002. She has obtained a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, an LLB with Upper Second Class Honours from the University of Bristol and a Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Legal Skills form City University, London. She has also attended the Southampton Short Maritime Law Course and has obtained several professional diplomas from BIMCO regarding the legal implications in Voyage and Time Charterparties and Bills of Lading. She has worked as a solicitor in three international law firms: Constant & Constant, Hill Dickinson International and Clyde & Co LLP (between 2002 and 2014) and she was also the in-house lawyer for a ship-management company in Athens (until the end of 2018). She is a qualified CEDR mediator and a conflict mediator.
Her academic background as well as her practical experience enable her to have a thorough understanding of shipping law issues, an analytical mind and the ability to consider and find practical and workable solutions. She has decided to set up MCS LEX in order to provide expert shipping litigation services and advice in a cost efficient and timely manner. Her aim is to build client relations based on trust and with that in mind, it is important to have the ability to talk to people and understand the nature of the issues at hand and what needs to be achieved. It is through face to face discussions as well as efforts to achieve amicable solutions with the opponent sides, with a view to avoiding litigation (where poossible), that this may be achieved.
MCS LEX also has associations with lawyers in Cyprus, the UK and internationally and this can cater for problems which may arise in numerous jurisdictions.
