With over 20 years’ experience at the forefront of sanctions and international law, Guy advises on all aspects of sanctions regimes, export controls, and international trade law. He also brings decades of expertise in reputation management, including media law, defamation, copyright, intellectual property, and data protection.

Guy was the strategic lead in landmark sanctions cases before the European Court of Justice, including Sheikh Yassin Kadi v Council of the EU — known globally as Kadi 1 and Kadi 2. Both were heard before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice, the highest court in Europe, where the court sharply criticised the absence of due process and rule of law protection in the application of sanctions.

Working with trusted legal advisers in the US and EU, Guy has secured the worldwide delisting of Sheikh Yassin Kadi as well as many other clients. These cases have helped shape new legal protocols for challenging international sanctions across multiple jurisdictions.

Guy has particular experience of UN sanctions, and of advising businesses and investors on compliance with economic sanctions around the world.

Guy’s clients include ultra-high-net-worth individuals, philanthropists, royalty, rulers of states and their families, international religious organisations and leaders, and internationally recognised figures in the arts and media.

One client told Chambers and Partners: “[Guy Martin is] peerless in international sanctions work, with a combination of huge experience and excellent client care.”

In 2001 Guy founded and subsequently led a top-ranking sanctions department in a Central London law firm, described by Chambers and Partners as “Renowned for its distinct expertise in sanctions against states and targeted asset freezing against individuals, and for its involvement in highly sensitive cases. Strong track record in the Middle East and Africa, notably in matters relating to the Arab Spring”.

He has successfully led many clients in their legal and administrative challenges to asset freezing measures – or “targeted sanctions” — by judicial review applications in England, direct actions for annulment to the General Court of the EU in Luxembourg, appeals to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, and petitions before the United Nations Ombudsperson, OFAC and other international bodies.

Since 2001 Guy has devised the strategy for, and led, the landmark litigation establishing the modern law of sanctions in the cases of Kadi 1 and Kadi 2. These cases have been relied on and continue to be cited globally as the foundation of modern sanctions law.

Many of Guy’s clients have been denied the protection of the Rule of Law, an effective tribunal, or due process, and have suffered other injustices, often as a result of international crises, political upheaval or armed conflict.