Maria has worked as a Court advocate for more than 20 years. She has appeared before all Courts of the Republic, including the Supreme Court and the Assize Court and has gained extensive experience in litigation in civil, administrative and criminal cases. For years she appeared as the leading prosecution counsel in serious and well-known criminal cases. She has also handled, on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus, cases filed by individuals against the Republic in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

She acted as legal advisor of the Police in relation to the conduct of serious criminal investigations and was responsible for the evaluation of the evidence and the implementation of the Attorney General's criminal policy.

She acted as legal advisor of the Government in relation to a wide range of matters including human rights and civil liberties, government tenders and contracts, planning permits, social insurance, corporate and stock-exchange regulation, regulation of insurance companies and compulsory acquisition of immovable property.

She appeared on behalf of the Attorney General before Parliamentary Committees for the discussion of Government Bills. She represented the Republic in a great number of European and International Seminars and Conferences and in Meetings of Experts of the European Union both in Brussels and elsewhere. She participated as an expert in a number of Experts' Committees of the Council of Europe and she was the representative of the Law Office of the Republic in the International Association of Prosecutors.

In 2007 Maria was appointed by the President of the Republic of Cyprus as Minister of Transport, Communications and Public Works, a position she held until the presidential election in February 2008. In April 2008 she joined Chrysses Demetriades & Co. LLC and since then she has been involved in a wide range of ship and project finance work.