Alexandra Wilson

5 St Andrew’s Hill

As a young barrister, it can be easy to immerse yourself into work, forgetting what is happening outside of your practice. However, for 5 St Andrew’s Hill’s Alexandra Wilson (Call: 2018) it has been her work outside court that has made people take notice. The family and crime barrister had a busy 2020, acting on several private care cases which saw a sharp rise due to the pandemic, and appeared in her first Court of Appeal case in January 2021.

However, it has been her pro bono work that has brought her to wider notice. In June 2020, she offered up her expertise to help those arrested during the Black Lives Matter protests. She worked on cases as an individual and with the support of Urban Lawyers and One Case At a Time – which Wilson helped set up last summer.

In September 2020, the HMCTS apologised to Wilson after she was mistaken for a defendant not once, but three times. In a Twitter thread, she detailed the events at the courtroom – where a security officer, a solicitor and a member of the public told her to leave the court room as they thought she was a defendant, rather than a barrister.

This raised important issues at the Bar, with other barristers following suit and detailing their stories of being mistaken. Wilson is not only a bright and astute barrister, but an excellent and vocal advocate for race and gender equality at the Bar.