Masters of the Bench

Martin was born and brought up in Edinburgh. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics and postgraduate law at Oxford, with a year at City in between. He was an Eldon Law Scholar and a Queen Mother's Scholar.

Called in 1997, Martin practised from 2000 at Brick Court Chambers in London, focussing on public law, human rights, EU law and public international law. He served on the Attorney General's panels from 2001 until 2013, when he took silk. He was a special advocate and developed a specialism in national security law, on which he writes and lectures.

Martin's cases established the right of same sex partners to survivors' pensions (Walker v Innospec), the compatibility with freedom of expression of the UK's ban on political advertising in the broadcast media (Animal Defenders in Strasbourg) and the unlawfulness of the decision to license arms exports to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen (Campaign Against Arms Trade v International Trade Secretary).

Martin was Chair of the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association, He was appointed a High Court Judge in 2019, having served as a deputy since 2016. He is married to Samantha Broadfoot KC (also a Middle Templar) and has three children.