Maria Szczepańska is an advocate admitted to practice in Poland, a counsel in the dispute resolution department of Rymarz Zdort Maruta and the head of the White-Collar Crime practice.
Experience and education:
Maria Szczepańska specialises in litigation, with a particular focus on white-collar crimes. She has broad experience in representing clients both at the pre-trial and litigation stages of proceedings. Since 2020, she has been recommended for white-collar crime by the prestigious legal ranking The Legal 500. In 2022, she was among the winners of the 11th edition of the “Rising Stars Lawyers – leaders of tomorrow” competition organised by Wolters Kluwer Polska. Prior to joining the law firm, she worked in several Warsaw-based law firms. She qualified as an advocate in 2015.
Her experience in criminal proceedings includes advising in connection with high-profile criminal matters, in which she has represented both the injured parties and defended those suspected of as well as already charged with wrongdoing (including management board members). She represents clients in cases connected with money laundering, bribery and corruption, fraud, breaches of fiduciary duties, insider trading, and violations of personal rights.
Additionally, Maria has experience with the implementation of preventative measures and the introduction of internal compliance procedures aimed at identifying instances of bribery, corruption and money laundering to reduce the risk of criminal liability.
Maria Szczepańska is also experienced in handling cross-border criminal cases, in particular cases involving the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). She is fluent in French and English. She is one of around a dozen lawyers in Poland who are members of the European Criminal Bar Association (ECBA) and its sub-association, the European Fraud and Compliance Lawyers (EFCL). Since 2021, she has also been a member of the Commission for International Cooperation of the Warsaw Bar Association.
She graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw in 2011, having also completed a course in European and French law at the Centre for French Law Studies co-organised by the University of Warsaw and Université de Poitiers in the same year. In 2016, she completed post-graduate studies in white-collar defence & investigations at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
Awards and rankings:
Since 2020, she has been recommended in the field of White-Collar Crime in the prestigious legal ranking The Legal 500. In 2022, she was among the winners of the eleventh edition of the “Rising Stars Lawyers – Leaders of Tomorrow” competition, organised by Wolters Kluwer Poland.