Maya Lester KC named in The Lawyer Hot 100 2024

29/01/24

Maya Lester KC is one of 11 barristers who feature in this year's Lawyer Hot 100.

This is her citation:

Maya Lester KC has been working in sanction law since long before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine meant her phone immediately began ringing off the hook, and now she leads the field in this hottest of arenas. This means she has the good fortune of acting on both sides in the debate around free speech versus executive power; for example she acted for the government on one of the first challenges to someone (journalist Graham Phillips) being added to a UK sanctions list, but has also acted for individuals challenging their place on such lists.

Other cases include work for Eurochem attempting to get the courts to take a position on who is subject to sanctions and a major insurance claim related to aircraft grounded because of sanctions. The Brick Court silk is also qualified at the Irish Bar, allowing her to continue to work in Luxembourg, often on cases that are related to Syria or Belarus rather than Russia. She is also building a distinctly Irish practice.

As a favourite tool of governments, this type of work won’t go away soon, so Lester will have her work cut out for a long time to come. And as the person in charge of the website Global Sanctions, no-one else on the planet has a more holistic view of everything sactions-related that is going on around the world.