Isabel San Martín

Senior Associate, London

+44 20 3880 1540

isanmartin@lalive.law

Isabel San Martín

Isabel’s practice focuses on international arbitration and public international law. She has experience in commercial and investment arbitrations under various procedural rules, including the ICSID, ICC, LCIA, SCC, UNCITRAL and CAIP Arbitration Rules. She has represented and advised clients in a variety of sectors, including renewable energy, oil and gas, mining, construction, and banking and finance. She also has experience in human rights law, environmental law and other areas of public international law. She was a member of the ICC Task Force that published the Report on Resolving Climate Change Related Disputes through Arbitration and ADR.

Recent publications

Journal of International Arbitration, Vol. 42, Issue 1, “Enforcement of Intra-EU ECT Awards: Comparing the US, UK and Australian Approaches”, February 2025
ISABEL SAN MARTÍN
In: Kluwer Law Online

UK withdrawal from the ECT – what next for investors?
ISABEL SAN MARTÍN AND MARGAUX BERGERE
In: Lexology, 2024

The End Is Near: the European Commission’s Proposed Coordinated Withdrawal from the ECT
NICHOLAS LAWN AND ISABEL SAN MARTÍN
In: Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 2023

Recent conferences

CEIA -40 - XVIII Conference of the Spanish and Ibero-American Arbitration Club
ISABEL SAN MARTíN, Role: Speaker, "Sunset Clauses y el futuro del arbitraje de inversión: ¿el último rayo de Sol?"
Madrid, 1 June 2025

CEIA - Launch Conference of the Luxembourg Chapter of the Spanish and Ibero-American Arbitration Club (CEIA) - The Interplay between judges and arbitrators
ISABEL SAN MARTíN, Role: Speaker, “Courts and pre-award supervision”
Luxembourg, 5 July 2024

Comillas ICADE Faculty of Law and Comillas Alumni International Arbitration Club - II Comillas Arbitration Day
ISABEL SAN MARTíN, Role: Moderator, Arbitrator duties and conflicts of interest
Madrid, 12 June 2024

Read more

Current professional memberships

  • Member and taskforce leader of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge Young Practitioners’ Subcommittee
  • Member of Steering Committee of the British Chapter of the Spanish Arbitration Club (CEIA)
  • Member of the 2024 Annual Meeting Organizing Committee of the American Society of International Law (ASIL)
  • Representative of the IBA Young Lawyer’s Committee in the United Kingdom
  • Co-founder and Steering Committee member of the Comillas Alumni International Arbitration Club

Career history

  • Senior Associate, LALIVE, London, 2024 – present
  • Associate, LALIVE, London, 2021 – 2023
  • Associate, King & Spalding, Paris, 2018 – 2021
  • Contract Attorney, Debevoise & Plimpton, London, 2017
  • Research Assistant, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), London, 2016 – 2017
  • Policy Adviser, Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations, New York, 2015 – 2016
  • Legal Counsel, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Washington D.C. 2013

Academic qualifications

  • Master in Legal Practice, Universidad Carlos III, 2015
  • LLM, Boston University School of Law, 2013
  • Bachelor of Laws, ICADE – Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, Spain, 2013
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