People like Maria are rare and it is even rarer that they should cross one's path, so I am all the more privileged to have known her for so long both as a trusted legal adviser and a friend. Maria was a first class technical and practical lawyer, a wise strategist and smart tactician, equally at home in the court room, the board room or on deck; yet she carried these skills with such modesty and generosity, always promoting the careers of her trainees and associates and always finding time for fun and laughter. I never discovered her secret of how to squeeze twenty-five hours out of every day and I suspect her team had a hard time keeping up with her. I shall remember her most for the fact that success never changed her. Maria was Maria to the end, warm-hearted, kind and caring, with an irrepressible zest for life. My thoughts are with her family Tim Reading