Chambers of

Samantha Jane Martin

Advocate, Arbitrator & Adjudicator — practising at the meeting point of environmental, water, construction and infrastructure law.

Chambers

Maisels Chambers, Johannesburg
Accreditation
AFSA Arbitrator & Mediator

A HOLISTIC PRACTICE

Major infrastructure, energy and resource projects rarely sit within a single field of law. My practice is built precisely where they meet — reading a dispute across its parts, and bringing the relevant strands of law together into one coherent strategy.

About

A specialist litigator & dispute resolver

Samantha is a practising advocate and specialist litigator, and a member of the Johannesburg Bar holding chambers at Maisels Chambers. In accordance with Bar rules, she accepts briefs from admitted attorneys, and has practised throughout Southern Africa.

She runs a general practice and is a qualified arbitrator, construction adjudicator and mediator — accredited with the Arbitration Foundation of South Africa (AFSA) and serving on its commercial panel, as well as the Legal Practice Council panel for Mediators and Arbitrators.

20+

Years in environmental law

AFSA

Accredited arbitrator & mediator

Areas of Practice

Where I am briefed

01

Environmental Law

Specialist advocacy and advisory services on compliance, regulatory frameworks, impact assessments, and litigation.

02

Water Law

Representing clients in water use licensing, allocation disputes, supply agreements, and pollution remediation challenges.

03

Mining Law

Advising on mineral rights, environmental compliance during extraction, and complex regulatory dispute resolutions.

04

Construction Law

Providing counsel on infrastructure engineering, standard form contracts (FIDIC, NEC), and claims arbitration.

05

Town Planning Law

Specializing in spatial planning, zoning applications, land use schemes, and representation at municipal appeal tribunals.

06

Sports & Entertainment Law

Advising bodies and individuals on media rights, professional sponsorship contracts, and disciplinary proceedings.

07

Sport & Sustainability

Designing legal frameworks for eco-aligned sporting events, major venue compliance, and sustainable legacy programs.

08

Sustainable Farming

Advising agricultural enterprises on regenerative systems, organic compliance, carbon offsets, and water rights management.

09

Wildlife Law

Navigating biodiversity conservation policies, permitting processes, game reserve governance, and wildlife trade compliance.

10

Carbon Tax & Climate Change

Strategic advice on climate change adaptation obligations, transition risks, carbon trading, and global tax compliance.

11

Bio Credit Policy

Designing forward-thinking policy frameworks for biodiversity banking, ecosystem service certificates, and green financing.

12

ADR

Providing neutral evaluation, expert mediation, and robust arbitration services for complex environmental and commercial disputes.

Specialisation · 01

Environmental Law

More than twenty years spent at South Africa’s constitutional environmental right — the field in which Samantha first built her practice, and the thread that runs through all of her work.

She advises and litigates across authorisations, compliance and enforcement; climate change, carbon tax and the just energy transition; biodiversity, waste and “green crime”; and appears before the Water Tribunal.

  • Environmental authorisations, compliance & enforcement
  • Climate change, carbon tax & the just energy transition
  • Biodiversity, waste, wildlife & "green crime"

Specialisation · 02

Water Law

From abstraction and use rights to pollution, waste and stormwater — a resource under mounting pressure, and an increasingly contested area of law.

Samantha handles water-use licensing, entitlements and compliance, appears before the Water Tribunal, and advises on the interface between water quality, waste and municipal service delivery.

  • Water-use licensing, entitlements & compliance
  • Appearances before the Water Tribunal
  • Pollution, waste & stormwater; municipal services
Specialisation · 03

Mining Law

Disputes across the full life of a mine — from authorisation, through operation, to closure and rehabilitation — where mining, environmental and insolvency law meet.

She acts on mining and environmental authorisations, closure and rehabilitation and the insolvency interface, and in disputes across the African continent, including upstream and downstream oil & gas.

  • Mining & environmental authorisations
  • Closure, rehabilitation & the insolvency interface
  • Continental mining, oil & gas disputes

Specialisation · 04

Construction Law

Substantial litigation across the standard-form suites — NEC, JBCC and FIDIC — on projects from commercial developments to major State infrastructure.
Samantha acts in adjudication, arbitration and contractual disputes; delay claims, guarantees and payment; and in SIU investigations and tender-irregularity matters.
  • Adjudication, arbitration & contractual disputes
  • Delay claims, guarantees & payment disputes
  • State infrastructure; SIU & tender-irregularity matters
Specialisation · 05

Town Planning Law

Where land use, municipal law and the environment converge — a field that shapes how, and whether, development may proceed.
She advises on land use, zoning and spatial planning; municipal law and service delivery; planning approvals alongside environmental authorisations; and property and development rights.
  • Land use, zoning & spatial planning
  • Municipal law & service-delivery disputes
  • Planning approvals, property & development rights

Specialisation · 06

Sports & Entertainment Law

Contract, intellectual property, regulation and dedicated sports jurisprudence — underpinned by a Global Master’s in Sports Law (ISDE, Spain).
Samantha advises on commercial, image-rights and sponsorship matters, and acts in disciplinary, regulatory and dispute-resolution proceedings across sport and entertainment.
  • Global Master's in Sports Law — ISDE, Spain
  • Commercial, image-rights & sponsorship matters
  • Disciplinary, regulatory & dispute resolution
Specialisation · 07

Sport & Sustainability

Sport is no longer played apart from the environment that hosts it. Climate change, air quality and extreme heat now shape playing conditions and athlete health; governing bodies carry growing obligations for the environmental footprint of stadiums, events and travel.
Uniting a Global Master’s in Sports Law with more than two decades in environmental practice, Samantha advises where the two fields meet — ESG governance in sport, event and venue sustainability, air-quality and playing-condition disputes, and the regulatory duties of federations and sponsors.
  • ESG & climate governance for sporting bodies and events
  • Air quality, extreme heat & playing-condition standards
  • Venue & event environmental footprint and compliance

Specialisation · 08

Sustainable Farming

Agriculture sits at the confluence of environmental, water, health and property law. Questions of pesticide and agrochemical use, soil and biodiversity, and water abstraction increasingly reach the courts — while a global shift toward regenerative practice reshapes what compliance and good stewardship require.
Samantha advises and litigates across this terrain — from pesticide regulation and agrochemical liability to the legal frameworks supporting bio-regenerative farming, agricultural water rights and agri-environmental compliance.
  • Pesticide & agrochemical regulation and liability
  • Bio-regenerative & regenerative farming frameworks
  • Agricultural water use, soil, biodiversity & food-system compliance
Specialisation · 09

Wildlife Law

South Africa’s wildlife regime sits across NEMBA, TOPS, CITES and the provincial ordinances — a layered framework governing threatened species, permits, captive facilities and international trade, and increasingly shaped by the question of animal well-being.
Samantha acts for conservation bodies, landowners, operators and NGOs on permitting and enforcement, captive breeding and keeping, trade and hunting, and the prosecution and defence of wildlife crime.
  • Threatened species, TOPS permits & CITES trade
  • Captive facilities, breeding, keeping & welfare
  • Wildlife crime, poaching & enforcement

Specialisation · 10

Carbon Tax & Climate Change

The Carbon Tax Act and the Climate Change Act have moved climate from policy into hard obligation — carbon budgets, sectoral emission targets, mandatory reporting and a tax whose allowances and offsets turn on how the law is read.

Holding a certificate in Carbon Tax from the Sustainability Institute, Samantha advises emitters, funders and public bodies on liability and allowances, offset projects, reporting and disclosure, and the disputes arising from the just energy transition.
  • Carbon tax liability, allowances & offset projects
  • Carbon budgets, sectoral targets & mandatory reporting
  • Climate obligations, disclosure & just-transition disputes

Specialisation · 11

Bio Credit Policy

Biodiversity credits are among the newest instruments in environmental law — and the least settled. What a credit represents, who holds it, how it is verified and whether it may offset harm elsewhere are questions still being answered in policy rather than precedent.
Samantha advises on the design and integrity of biodiversity credit and offset schemes, biodiversity stewardship and conservation agreements, and the access and benefit-sharing arrangements that must sit beneath them.
  • Biodiversity credit & offset scheme design
  • Integrity, verification & additionality
  • Stewardship agreements, access & benefit sharing

Specialisation · 12

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Samantha is an accredited Arbitrator and Mediator, and a Construction Adjudicator — appointed to sit as well as briefed to appear. Environmental, water, construction and planning disputes are often better resolved outside the court roll: faster, in private, and before a tribunal that already understands the subject matter.

She accepts appointments in commercial and construction arbitrations, adjudications under NEC, JBCC and FIDIC, and mediations — and advises on the drafting of dispute-resolution clauses so that the mechanism chosen is the one the matter actually needs.
  • Accredited Arbitrator — commercial & construction
  • Accredited Mediator — environmental, planning & commercial
  • Construction Adjudicator — NEC, JBCC & FIDIC
Dispute Resolution

Arbitration & ADR

A qualified arbitrator, construction adjudicator and mediator — resolution outside the courtroom, on the parties’ own terms.

Chosen by the parties

The parties may select their arbitrator, mediator or adjudicator by agreement.

Faster & focused

Substantially quicker and more cost-effective than the courts.

Private

Proceedings are conducted confidentially, away from the public record.

AFSA accredited

Commercial-panel Arbitrator & Mediator; LPC panel member.

Credentials

Qualifications & standing

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

BCom Law · LLB
LLM Environmental Law (with Distinction) — mining, water, property, municipal, biodiversity & EIA
LLM Global Sports Law — ISDE, Spain

ACCREDITATION & PANELS

AFSA — accredited Arbitrator & Mediator, commercial panel
LPC panel for Mediators & Arbitrators
Trained Construction Adjudicator

CERTIFICATES

Cert Carbon Tax — the Sustainability Institute
Cert Mining Law — University of the Witwatersrand
Cert Intellectual Property Law — Stellenbosch University

MEMBERSHIPS

Member, Johannesburg Bar — Maisels Chambers
International diplomas in International Environmental Law — UNITAR
Member, CEOs in Sports

Insights

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