Maria Kolikova Slovak lawyer, politician and statesman Date of Birth: 29.08.1974 Country: Slovakia

1. Born and Raised
2. Education and Legal Career
3. Advocating for Human Rights
4. Linguistic Proficiency and Legal Practice
5. Political Affiliation and Governmental Roles
6. Current Ministerial Role

Born and Raised

Maria Kolíková was born on August 29, 1974, in the city of Dunajská Streda, Slovakia. Her Slovak heritage and upbringing shaped her early years.

Education and Legal Career

Kolíková studied law at Comenius University in Bratislava from 1993 to 1999, earning a master's degree. She interned at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, in 1998 and at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C., in 2001. Kolíková also completed a practical seminar on discrimination cases at the European Court of Human Rights in 2004. Her passion for law and justice became evident through these educational experiences.

Advocating for Human Rights

Kolíková's commitment to human rights manifested itself in her work as a lecturer at the Department of Human Projects, Civic Education, and Democracy from 1997 to 2005. She also organized human rights summer and spring schools for law students from 1998 to 2002. Kolíková founded the Public Legal Clinic at the Law Faculty of Trnava University in 2001 and taught there until 2005.

Linguistic Proficiency and Legal Practice

Maria Kolíková is fluent in English, French, Russian, and German, a testament to her international experience. Her legal career began as a legal translator with a law firm from 1999 to 2002. In 2003, she became a practicing attorney and founded her own law firm in 2007, operating it until 2009. From July 2012 to March 2016, and again from September 2018, she worked as a lawyer with Kolečková & Partners.

Political Affiliation and Governmental Roles

Kolíková joined the For The People party in 2019, which was founded by President Andrej Kiska. In 2020, she switched to the Freedom and Solidarity party. She was elected as a member of parliament for the For The People party in the 2020 parliamentary elections. Upon her appointment as the Minister of Justice on March 21, 2020, she resigned from the National Council. Alexandra Pivková took her place.

In 2006, Minister of Justice Lucia Žitňanská appointed Kolíková as the director of the Center for Legal Aid. However, this decision was challenged by the succeeding Minister of Justice, Štefan Harabin, who terminated her position. Kolíková served as the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice from July 2010 to March 2012 under Minister Lucia Žitňanská in Radičová's government. In 2016, she resumed this role in Fico's third cabinet.

Current Ministerial Role

On March 21, 2020, Maria Kolíková became the Minister of Justice in Matovič's cabinet, led by Igor Matovič. She resigned along with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Sulík due to a government crisis stemming from the procurement of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. President Zuzana Čaputová accepted her resignation on March 23. On April 1, 2020, Kolíková was appointed Minister of Justice in Eduard Heger's cabinet.