NLJ profile: Alex Glassbrook

What was your route into the profession?

This will seem odd to anyone not raised in the 1970s, but I became fixated on the bar as a child, when I saw the lunchtime TV programme ‘Crown Court’. There wasn’t much on television in those days, but ‘Crown Court’ featured a fictional trial, I think once a week. I was instantly hooked. There were no lawyers in my family but I was an argumentative child who liked to perform, so I think the TV barristers seemed like my sort of people.

At secondary school I was determined to study law, in order to get to the bar, until my English teacher asked if I knew that I could study a non-law degree then convert. I didn’t know that, so I studied English (my first academic love) at Bristol University, then did the law conversion course at City University.

I was very lucky, while at Bristol, to have a friend whose Dad (Peter Thompson) was a barrister, who very kindly invited me to visit his chambers (12 KBW) during several university holidays, so that is how I first got to see real barristers at work. I also worked as an outdoor clerk for a solicitor’s firm during university holidays, which gave me the experience of working in the heavingly-busy Bear Garden in the Royal Courts of Justice while I was still a student.

Middle Temple were wonderfully supportive while I was at City and bar school, both in terms of scholarships and by providing the best mentor I could have asked for (Derek Sweeting QC). The greatest piece of luck was getting a pupillage, then tenancy, at 1 Temple Gardens—a busy, friendly set, full of the advocacy opportunities I wanted from the outset, and still (as Temple Garden Chambers) my chambers today.

What has been your biggest career challenge so far?

I have been fortunate to be involved in a lot of interesting cases. I have always enjoyed advocacy and witness work especially, and the way that the legal process deals with the complexity of motives: there are many common strands between studying literature and the law. So I enjoy a tricky case. Technology (and particularly my field of advanced and electric vehicles) magnifies those complexities—the relationship between human and automated decisions is fascinating in fact and law.

Writing law books was not something I expected to do, when I started at the bar. As in many things, the main challenge is to start. But it is an energizing as well as an arduous process. I have had the pleasure of working with excellent publishers (Tim Kevan at Law Brief Publishing and Andy Hill at Bloomsbury Professional) and outstanding collaborators (Emma Northey and Scarlett Milligan in my chambers). I am currently working on my third book about the law of new vehicle technologies: Advanced, Automated and Electric Vehicle Law, which will be published by Bloomsbury Professional in 2022.

I think my biggest challenge was balancing work and family life, especially when our children were very young. It was far from my challenge alone—my wife was also then at the bar (she is now a judge), so every day was very busy. That sounds like a negative, but it was an extraordinary thrill as well as an exhausting experience! And I think we tackled it in some interesting ways (we both cycle to work, so balancing a folding bike plus two children on a pushchair, en route to nursery, became an important skill).

Which person within the legal profession inspires you most?

Corny perhaps, but my wife is an extraordinarily able and thoughtful lawyer, with magnificent judgment and no apparent fears at all. We practised in different fields, but the fact that we were often facing the same, unusual experiences of the bar, especially as new parents, has always been a huge help. She is also very funny, which I think is probably the prime survival quality at the bar!

I should also mention Desmond Browne QC and the Inns of Court College of Advocacy. A pleasure of the bar is the ability to volunteer to do some very interesting things. Desmond headed the International Committee of ICCA for many years and he and I taught forensic advocacy overseas together on many occasions, especially in Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone, where we would often go on long, exploratory walks after a day of teaching. Desmond is a person of extraordinary commitment and action, and ICCA is an amazing organization: I would wholeheartedly recommend being an ICCA advocacy trainer to any interested barrister.

If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you choose as an alternate career?

Perhaps a journalist? In a fantasy life, lead guitarist.

Who is your favourite fictional lawyer?

Lionel Hutz from ‘The Simpsons’ (though he is not strong on professional ethics).

What change would you make to the profession?

It is great to see wellbeing and mental health being taken more seriously: as a profession of individual practitioners, we have to provide community and support for each other. Our chambers is part of the ‘Wellbeing at the bar’ initiative. Wellbeing is an ongoing process, but we need to keep the momentum up as a profession.

How do you relax?

I find that any activity which demands all your concentration tends to force relaxation (if that is a useful phrase!). So, whenever I am in chambers or in court close to chambers, I always cycle to and from work. I also run (I miss Park Run, which has been suspended because of the pandemic, but running alone or with a friend is a reasonable substitute). And I play guitar, though I need to practise more often!