Maria I. Lawless brings nearly two decades of trust, estate and general civil litigation experience to Lee and Lawless. Ms. Lawless routinely initiates conservatorship and guardianship proceedings, and she has litigated both elder abuse and abuse of dependent adult claims. She has successfully tried a number of will contests and provides general counsel in all areas pertaining to trust actions, will contests and fiduciary claims. Ms. Lawless considers trust and estate litigation to be an expanding field in need of the highest quality legal representation, especially in light of the difficult interpersonal issues surrounding family disputes and the need to adequately protect the elderly and disabled

Prior to joining the practice, Ms. Lawless worked in her own private practice focusing on trust and estate litigation as well as general civil litigation. Her prior experience as an associate at other Bay Area firms also gave her a solid background in representing corporate clients in both transactional and litigation matters.

Ms. Lawless is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Mateo Trial Lawyers Association, is a Member of the Alameda and San Francisco County Bar Associations and is a mediator on the San Francisco Superior Probate Court Mediation Panel.

She graduated with honors from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. in Government in 1986. She received her Juris Doctor from UC Davis School of Law in 1990 where she was a member of the U.C. Davis Law Review and Moot Court Honors Board. She has also studied internationally in Austria, Poland and Germany and speaks fluent German. As a young student, she researched discrimination cases for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and served as an intern for UNIDA at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.

Ms. Lawless resides in Oakland with her family, continues to enjoy international travel and is an avid hiking enthusiast.