Martin Hyde

Martin and has studied at both Cambridge University and University of Sydney. After working as a criminal prosecutor in Sydney, Martin returned to the UK to work in the litigation department at Travers Smith, in London. During his seven years at the firm, Martin worked on a variety of matters, including the multi-billion dollar Enron shareholder class action. He has also been a trustee of the London Capital Cases Trust (the body overseeing final appeals by Caribbean death row prisoners to the Privy Council) and has worked on death-row cases on behalf of convicted prisoners from Trinidad and Tobago.

In Australia Martin conducted the Centro Class Action. The case was settled for $200 million six weeks into trial, making it the largest securities class action settlement on record in Australia. He then worked on the class action arising out of the 2009 Kilmore – Kinglake bushfire. Caused by a fallen power line, the bushfire killed 119 people and destroyed 2500 homes. The case went to trial and ran for 16 months. Following the trial—but prior to judgment—the parties agreed to settle for half a billion dollars, making it the largest ever class action settlement in Australian history.   

Martin was part of the legal team representing indigenous land owners in their Federal Court challenge to the placement of a nuclear waste dump on Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory and he continues to work with a number of Aboriginal communities and organisations.

In 2014, Martin Hyde was appointed Director of the litigation funding firms Claims Funding Europe and Claims Funding International. These entities are based in Dublin, Ireland.

In February 2019, Martin was appointed the Head of Litigation Funding at Maurice Blackburn, with oversight of the Claims Funding businesses that the firm has an interest in. These businesses currently support litigation across five continents on behalf of the victims of corporate and government misconduct.