Martin Hyde

Martin Hyde studied at the University of Sydney and Cambridge University. After working as a criminal prosecutor in Sydney, he worked in the litigation department at Travers Smith in London.

During his seven years at Travers Smith, Martin worked on a wide range of matters including the multi-billion dollar Enron shareholder class action. He also worked on death row cases on behalf of convicted prisoners from Trinidad and Tobago and was a trustee of the London Capital Cases Trust, the body that oversees final appeals by Caribbean death row prisoners to the Privy Council.

Martin returned to Australia in 2007 and joined the Class Action department at Maurice Blackburn. He conducted the Centro Class Action, which settled six weeks into trial for $200m, making it the largest ever securities class action settlement in Australia. 

He then worked on the class action arising out of the 2009 Kilmore – Kinglake bushfire. The case went to trial which ran for 16 months. After trial but before judgment, the parties agreed to settle for half a billion dollars, making it the largest class action settlement ever in Australia.

Martin was also 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

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 and fund large class actions in a number of different jurisdictions. 

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.