Company: Buddle Findlay
Job title: Senior solicitor
Although only in the fourth year of her legal career, Maria Clezy has already been earmarked by clients and her peers as a future leader of the profession. Evidence of her external reputation first came to light when she was ranked as ‘Highly Regarded’ in the 2019 edition of WorldTax, the leading global directory of tax professionals. She was one of only 10 lawyers to receive such an accolade and no one was ranked more highly than her. WorldTax recently released its 2020 rankings and has again rated Clezy as ‘Highly Regarded’. Her achievement stands out as exceptional given that all the other ranked individuals are partners (or equivalent) with decades of tax experience. Clezy has been involved in a substantial number of market leading transactions which includes the high-profile acquisition of the Vodafone New Zealand group in 2019 in which she worked alongside and advised the purchasing consortium. She has regular engagement with senior management and directors of several New Zealand and international companies. This has allowed a diverse range of professionals (both within the profession and on the client side) to assess her abilities firsthand.