Sir Martin recently retired as a Lord Justice of Appeal after serving for more than 20 years as a judge of the Commercial Court and Court of Appeal. He is currently chairing the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

As a barrister he practised at 3 Essex Court (later 20 Essex Street, now Twenty Essex). Sir Martin specialised in disputes relating to the carriage of goods by sea and road, commodity trading, general sale of goods, insurance and reinsurance, arbitration law and practice, banking and financial matters, and other kinds of commercial contracts. He sat as an arbitrator and Deputy High Court Judge before he was appointed to the High Court in October 1995.

Between October 1995 and his appointment to the Court of Appeal in April 2005 Sir Martin sat mainly in the Commercial Court, of which he was Judge in Charge from October 2000 to April 2002. During that period, together with the Admiralty Judge, he oversaw the drafting and adoption of Parts 58, 61 and 62 of the Civil Procedure Rules relating to proceedings in the Commercial and Admiralty Courts, including proceedings relating to arbitrations. Sir Martin also played a major role in drafting a new edition of the Commercial and Admiralty Courts Guide to harmonise with the new rules.

From December 2005 to December 2009 he was chairman of the Legal Services Consultative Panel, which advised the Lord Chancellor on the regulation and training of lawyers and others offering legal services. From 2007 to 2012 he was Deputy Head of Civil Justice and day-to-day chairman of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee. From October 2014 to December 2016 he was Vice-President of the Court of Appeal, Civil Division.

For any enquires relating to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry please contact: contact@grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk