• He is tactically very careful and a real pleasure to work with. He oozes confidence and juries, clients and judges really like him.

    Chambers UK 2025

  • James is a very clever and skilful barrister. He is naturally gifted and highly sought after in the field of fraud. He is silk quality.

    Legal 500 2025, Fraud

  • James Martin is a genius. He's a brilliant tactician and an excellent advocate.

    Chambers UK 2024

  • He's a man of detail and absolute precision.

    Chambers UK 2024

  • James is a calm and careful counsel who works incredibly hard. He has a natural and affable style of advocacy which gets juries onside.

    Legal 500 2024

  • He gains the confidence of judges through his sensible approach.

    Legal 500 2024

  • He doesn't take a bad point and is extremely tactically aware. He is thorough in his analysis and detailed in his approach – able to deal with the most complex fraud matters and most challenging of clients.

    Legal 500 2024

  • James Martin is very experienced and has always provided a brilliant service to clients both through his advocacy and in the way he conducts conferences.

    Chambers UK 2023

Called 2003

James Martin

Barrister

James Martin is recommended by both Chambers UK and The Legal 500. He is an experienced practitioner who prides himself on attention to detail and a fearless approach to defending his clients’ interests.

Described by his peers as “a no nonsense advocate and a tough opponent” (The Legal 500), James acts as leading counsel in the full range of criminal offending but in particular tends to focus on serious organised crime and fraud. He is also regularly led in homicide cases. He has particular experience in dealing with complex multi-handed cases of all types and is very adept at dealing with technical evidence such as that retrieved from 'phones, computers and associated cell site evidence. 

Areas of Practice

  • Confiscation, Civil Recovery & Asset Forfeiture
  • Public Access
  • Financial & Corporate Crime
  • General Crime
  • Serious & Organised Crime, including Homicide
  • Sexual Offences
  • Cyber Crime
  • Regulatory & Professional Discipline

Testimonials

  • "He is tactically very careful and a real pleasure to work with. He oozes confidence and juries, clients and judges really like him." Chambers UK 2025
  • "James is a very clever and skilful barrister. He is naturally gifted and highly sought after in the field of fraud. He is silk quality." Legal 500 Fraud 2025
  • "James Martin is a genius. He's a brilliant tactician and an excellent advocate." Chambers UK 2024
  • "He's a man of detail and absolute precision." Chambers UK 2024
  • "James is a calm and careful counsel who works incredibly hard. He has a natural and affable style of advocacy which gets juries onside." Legal 500 2024
  • "He gains the confidence of judges through his sensible approach." Legal 500 2024
  • "He doesn't take a bad point and is extremely tactically aware. He is thorough in his analysis and detailed in his approach – able to deal with the most complex fraud matters and most challenging of clients." Legal 500 2024
  • "James Martin is very experienced and has always provided a brilliant service to clients both through his advocacy and in the way he conducts conferences." Chambers UK 2023
  • "A very smooth operator who is highly intelligent. He applies that intelligence in a number of different ways, proving to be both a good academic lawyer and a fluent advocate." Chambers UK 2021
  • "He is practical and gets to the heart of the case." Chambers UK 2021
  • “He’s eloquent, understated and extremely bright. He gets fantastic results and is always available on the end of the phone.” Chambers UK 2020
  • “He’s great with clients – I would recommend him without hesitation.” Chambers UK 2020
  • "He is excellent at putting clients at ease." Legal 500 2020
  • "Tenacious and fully committed to every case, he is polite but unyielding." Legal 500 - 2019
  • "A no-nonsense advocate and a tough opponent with an attractive manner before juries." Legal 500 2017