Maryan is Chief Negotiator for WTO Accession at the Office of the President of the Federal republic of Somalia and is a 2019 Obama Foundation Leader (Africa). She is the youngest woman Chief Negotiator ever appointed to the WTO. Maryan is a Brandon Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge (Lauterpacht Centre for International Law) where her research will focus on exploring a suitable investment dispute resolution regime for post conflict states – spotlighting Somalia. She is the former Chief Legal Adviser to the Prime Minister at the Federal Government of Somalia, and led a team that rebuilt the Office of the Legal Adviser after two decades of state collapse. Prior to working in Mogadishu, Maryan worked as a visiting Associate at the international arbitration practice at Al Tamimi & Co in Dubai, and as Legal Adviser to the Somali Mission to the UN in New York. She currently serves on the boards and council chapters of Mauritius, Singapore and is the youngest member on the ICSID panels of arbitrators and conciliators.
Maryan speaks at universities around the world on public international law, investor-state arbitration and trade law. Maryan is a dual national of the UK and Somalia and holds LL.B (honours) and LL.M degrees from Kingston and SOAS.