Maria Paschou

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Contact

Bar admissions

Greece

ACHIEVEMENTS

Lexology (former Who’s Who Legal) Arbitration Future Leaders – Non-Partners (2026)
EODID Athens Mediation & Arbitration Organization – Pool of Arbitrators

Languages

English
Greece

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Overview

Maria Paschou is an attorney-at-law admitted to the Athens Bar Association in Greece, and an Associate at Queritius.

Maria has extensive experience in international and domestic dispute settlement, focusing on international commercial and investment treaty arbitration. She has successfully advised and represented clients in high-stake arbitration and litigation matters, ranging from investment treaty cases to contractual disputes across the construction, energy and natural resources, retail and consumer goods, and telecom sectors. Maria has handled cases under various applicable laws and the auspices of various leading arbitration institutions, including ICC, LCIA, ICSID, DIFC, as well as under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.

On the advisory front, Maria has negotiated and drafted complex commercial contracts and has valuable experience in contract, construction, corporate, IP/IT, and privacy law.

Maria is a researcher at the Athens Public International Law Center (Athens PIL) and the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) International Arbitration Moot Coach of the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Law School. She holds an LL.B. from the Democritus University of Thrace, an LL.M. in Public International Law from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, and the MIDS LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement from the University of Geneva and the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Before joining Queritius, Maria practiced arbitration and litigation with leading law firms in Paris, Dubai, Brussels, and Athens.

Arbitration

Litigation

Publications and Professional Activities

Education

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

Counsel to an EU oil and gas company in an ICSID arbitration against a European State
Counsel to an EU oil and gas company in an UNCITRAL arbitration concerning the validity of certain agreements entered into with a European State
Counsel to a CEE packaging manufacturer in an ICDR arbitration against a multinational brewing company
Counsel to an international MEP contractor on a DIFC-LCIA construction arbitration concerning a real estate (hospitality) development project in Dubai, UAE
Counsel to an international MEP contractor on an LCIA construction arbitration concerning a real estate (commercial) development project in Dubai, UAE
Advisor to a foreign investor in the Middle East on the initiation of investment arbitration proceedings over adverse changes in the law
Advisor to a construction company in an ICC BoP arbitration concerning a steel complex in Algeria
Assisting Counsel to a European State in an ICSID arbitration (ECT) arising out of a petroleum development contract
Assisting Counsel to a foreign investor in an ICSID arbitration arising out of the construction of a golf resort
Arbitral Secretary and Assistant to Tribunals hearing commercial arbitration disputes

Assisting Counsel to a construction company in the setting-aside proceedings of a 40 million ICC award with respect to a 2004 Olympic Games-related project
Assisting Counsel to a US search engine in disputes concerning the removal of allegedly defamatory content, IP-owned content, and personal data appearing online
Assisting Counsel to oil and gas company in lawsuits by its minority shareholders
Assisting Counsel to a food and beverages company in distribution disputes

PUBLICATIONS

The European Commission’s Legal Overreach: Infringement Proceedings Against Hungary and the Ignored International Law in: EFILA Blog, available here (2025)
Chapter 7: Submissions on Costs, in Courtney Lotfi, Alicja Zielińska-Eisen, et al. (eds), International Arbitration in Practice, (© Kluwer Law International 2025), pp. 89 – 100 (co-authored with Alicja Zielińska-Eisen)
Chapter 63: Calculating the Cost of Arbitration in Courtney Lotfi, Alicja Zielińska-Eisen, et al. (eds), International Arbitration in Practice, (© Kluwer Law International 2025), pp. 697 – 704 (co-authored with Alicja Zielińska-Eisen)
Investor-State Arbitration Laws and Regulations 2022: Greece (co-authored) in: ICLG.com, available here (2022)
Initial Stages of a Dispute: The State’s Perspective (co-authored) in: GAR Guide to Investment Treaty Protection and Enforcement, available here (2022)
Annulled Awards as Persuasive Precedent in Investment Arbitration in: Arb Dossier, available here (2020)
The EU’s Proposal for an Investment Court System: Does It Really Solve the Problem? in: Diaitisia & Diamesolavisi 2/2020 (2020)
Assistant Editor of Scherer, Bassiri, et al (eds), International Arbitration and the COVID-19 Revolution, Wolters Kluwer, 2020

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Speaker at the 2025 Athens Arbitration Days Conference organized by EODID Athens Mediation & Arbitration Organization & Bodenheimer – Women in Arbitration: Navigating Today’s Challenges in Energy and Infrastructure Projects in the SEE Region (November 2025)
Speaker at the ICC YAAF Conference: Reshaping Tomorrow’s Leaders – Pitch Effectively (November 2025)
Co-Lecturer at Greece VYAP – Greece Very Young Arbitration Practitioners x Athens Public International Law Center (Athens PIL): Athens VisMoot Academy –Arbitration Agreement: Jurisdictional Issues & Strategic Drafting of Arbitration Agreements
(November 2025)
Lecturer at the ELSA Summer Law School on Investment Law & Arbitration – Sources of International Investment Law and Consent to International Arbitration
(August 2025)
Speaker at the 7th International Arbitration Conference, Athens – International Standards and Greek Law on the Challenge of Arbitrators (July 2025)
Speaker at the CIArb Annual Conference (European Branch) – Emerging Trends in the Resolution of Construction Disputes (April 2025)
Speaker at the ICC YAAF Conference: Arbitration in the Construction Sector – Navigating Complexity, Budapest – Building a Case: The Role of Evidence in Construction Arbitration (April 2024)
Speaker at the 3rd Young ITA Global Forum – Asymmetric Disclosure Requests and Dissolved Arbitral Institutions (February 2024)
Coach of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens team in the Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot (FDI Moot) (January 2021 – present)
Mentee in the Young ICCA Mentoring Programme, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Emilia Onyema and Mr. Daniel Haue Jakobsson (February 2022 – December 2023)
Speaker at the MIDS 15th Anniversary and 3rd MIDS Alumni Association Annual Conference – ‘Back to the Future’, Geneva – The Challenges and Impact of Sanctions in Commercial, Investment and Inter-State Disputes (September 2023)
Facilitator and former Mentee in the Young ITA Mentorship Program (September 2020 – September 2022)
Lecturer at the ELSA Summer Law School on Investment Law &
Arbitration – Third Parties in Investment Arbitration (August 2021)
Speaker at Stockholm University – Roundtable discussion on Transparency in International Arbitration (February 2021)
Participant in the ELSA Human Rights Moot Court Competition (4^th edition), Geneva – Team ranked 17th (November 2015)

MIDS LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement from the University of Geneva and the Geneva Graduate Institute, 2020
LL.M. in Public International Law from the University of Athens, 2018
LL.B. from the Democritus University of Thrace, 2017