Maria is a digital regulation lawyer with extensive in-house experience and significant industry recognition, including being featured as a Key Lawyer in Band 1 TMT Industry Focus by Legal 500. She is an expert in both EU and UK platform and content regulations like the Digital Services Act and the Online Safety Act and enjoys delivering on complex regulatory projects as part of cross-functional teams.

Maria is a key member of Osborne Clarke's international digital regulation group and leads Trust & Safety platform initiatives across the firm. She works closely with clients on a wide range of projects ranging from all aspects of UK OSA implementation and EU DSA VLOP readiness to strategic advice on social media ban measures (like the EU KIDS Act proposal), age assurance and related product counselling, including for new digital products, features and service launches. Maria also advises clients on how best to manage strategic regulatory positions and regulatory engagements, such as RFI responses and supervision meetings with Ofcom, as well as opportunities for potential judicial review challenges and corresponding enforcement risks.

Maria spent almost half of her career in-house on highly successful secondments at high-profile tech and platform clients. Most recently, she spent 2025 at a global gaming platform as Senior Regulatory Counsel leading on UK Online Safety Act compliance and implementation. Maria’s in-house experience means she has invaluable insights on how to approach big-ticket projects internally and how to structure and deliver external support to ensure our teams work hand-in-glove with our clients’ in-house legal teams and their business clients.    

Maria also has a strong EU constitutional law and human rights background, which she honed as the inaugural Alexander Chloros scholar at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. 

Thanks to all the time I spent in-house, you can think of me as an in-house outside counsel who gets the pain points. 

I have worked alongside engineers, project managers, moderation specialists, product, safety and policy teams, which makes me always have an eye out for the bigger picture. 

For example, how you implement a regulatory requirement for a feature or product can have ripple effects elsewhere (like in the quality of data metrics, some of which may be reportable). That's why I love thinking proactively and holistically whenever I'm advising, which translates into offering you actionable solutions that also take into account your business needs and other BAU processes.

Maria Luchian

Maria has immense intellectual curiosity and a natural desire to go the extra mile to ensure she is delivering work of an incredibly high standard. She makes it a priority to fully understand the product and business which is crucial and not a given.

Secondment stakeholder, regional head of Regulatory Legal

She has an exceptional ability to break down intricate problems, calibrate solutions that strike a balance between opportunity and risk, and provide strategic advice that is considered and actionable.  

Secondment C-suite stakeholder

She excels in person-to-person contacts, easily building strong rapport with her stakeholders and, in the process, earning trust for her and her judgments.

Secondment stakeholder

She attacks each task with laser precision, is incredibly self-motivated and takes full ownership. 

Secondment stakeholder

I’d like to give a special shoutout to Ben Dunham, Maria Luchian, and Sophie Chesterman. They’ve been invaluable partners in helping us navigate the evolving online safety landscape in the UK. Their expertise, responsiveness, and consistently thoughtful approach have made a real difference, especially given the complexity and pace of regulatory change in this space. They combine deep knowledge with a practical, solutions-oriented mindset, and their willingness to go the extra mile has not gone unnoticed. A real pleasure to collaborate with them.

Legal 500 2026.

The OC team is on top of all things tech and regulatory, especially in the UK market. The UK team are experts at OSA compliance and provide practical and to-the-point advice.

Legal 500

Pragmatism. The team understands technology and the challenges in-house teams deal with. OC team members are often on secondments at clients, which helps them provide a unique perspective into the day-to-day realities of operating at a tech company.

Legal 500.

With expertise in advising multinational platform businesses, technology companies, telecoms operators, and infrastructure providers, Osborne Clarke's TMT team is commended by clients for its ‘commercial and pragmatic approach.

Legal 500.