John Martin QC

Practice Overview

John Martin specialises in litigation and related advisory work in a very wide range of chancery and commercial matters. The majority of this is based in business and property law, from traditional chancery cases relating to trusts, land and charities to commercial contract disputes of all types.

He also frequently deals with liability cases relating to areas in which he practises, particularly those involving solicitors or accountants. He appeared for the successful claimant in Keydon Estates v Eversheds, a ground-breaking case on measure of damages in solicitors' liability cases. In addition, he has expertise in areas such as telecommunications (cases involving optical networks in London and throughout Europe, digital television transmission and technical real estate); entertainment law (appearing for the estate of George Bernard Shaw in a dispute over My Fair Lady video rights); disclosure of journalistic sources (Saunders v Punch Limited [1998] 1 WLR 986, which earned him an unflattering profile in Punch magazine); sports law, (including Formula 1 motor racing and rugby league cases); and cross-border insolvency (acting in a long-running dispute in the Cayman Islands).

He sits regularly as a deputy High Court Judge, a number of his decisions having been reported; frequently acts as an arbitrator in commercial and property disputes; and is an experienced mediator. He is currently Chairman of the Disciplinary Appointments Committee of the Actuarial Profession. 

Professional Reputation

He is regularly recommended as a 'leading silk' in the chancery, company and property sections of directories such as The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.

John Martin QC is a "clever, clever man", whose practice encompasses work in trusts, land and charities. (2009)

Particularly strong in trusts, John Martin QC "has good judgement and common sense, and knows the law inside and out". (2008)

Qualifications

• Head of Chambers
• Deputy High Court judge
• Courts of Appeal judge of Jersey and Guernsey
• Qualified mediator.

John Martin QC was educated at Malvern College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he took an MA in Law. His early practice was at the Chancery Bar in Liverpool and the exceptionally varied litigation he encountered there has influenced his career ever since.

He became Head of Chambers on 30 June 2010. He has been a Deputy High Court Judge since 1993, is a member of the arbitrating panel of Arbitration for Commerce and Industry, and is an accredited mediator. He joined Wilberforce Chambers in 1981.