Alex Matthews > 9BR Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile

Alex Matthews

Position

Alex has a strong practice prosecuting and defending.  She performs deftly in cases involving vulnerable clients and has experience of running both insanity defences and dealing with fitness to plead procedures.

Alex is well versed in dealing with multi-handed instructions both for the prosecution and defence having extensively advised on charging many such cases while seconded at the CPS.

Alex is confident when dealing with sexual offences both for the prosecution and when defending.

She has recently been instructed to defend in a five handed conspiracy trial at St Albans Crown Court involving a number of youth defendants. This trial has featured complex tactical decisions, issues of law and bad character.  Client care is always at the heart of Alex’s work and her diligent work assisting a young defendant of good character through a difficult trial has been a prime example of her excellent client care skills.

She has strong experience assisting children and young people through both the youth and crown Courts. This was drawn on when she presented the recent 9BR webinar with Emma Heath entitled Youths: Simplifying the Sentencing Regime.

Alex has experience of defending military personnel both in civilian courts and at Court Martial. She is familiar with the particular difficulties in such cases, especially as regards sentencing serving servicemen/women.

She has particular experience defending Deaf/deaf defendants and is a personable advocate who excels when it comes to helping clients understand trial procedures and processes.

Prosecution

In 2019 Alex was seconded to CPS London South Central Crown Court Unit.  She took the lead on prosecuting drugs and kidnap conspiracies, attempted murder and aggravated burglaries, amongst lower level offences such as possession of blades and assaults.  This experience has lent her unique insight into the operations of the CPS as a body, and has employed her keen analytical skills  to good effect.

Alex is regularly instructed in high profile protest prosecution work. Her growing expertise in this area of law (and robust disclosure experience) render her an ideal candidate for both defence and prosecution instructions in this field.

Alex has also undertaken work as a prosecution junior on a number of multi-handed cases (including insurance and car-ringing frauds) and has run the resulting POCA proceedings.

Alex has also undertaken disclosure secondments with the both the SFO and on the Grenfell Tower inquiry, and as a result  is familiar with Autonomy and other document platforms, thus cementing her experience working both as independent counsel and as a productive team player.

Defence

From drugs indictments, through to GBH and robbery, Alex defends across the gamut of offences in the Crown Court, regularly in multi-handed matters.

Before coming to the bar Alex worked as a paralegal at a high-street legal aid firm and within the criminal department at Kingsley Napley LLP. She is therefore intimately familiar with the work those instructing her are undertaking, and the ways she can best assist.

Alex was awarded the Jules Thorne Scholarship in 2012, an award granted for academic achievement by Middle Temple Inn of Court.

Career

Called 2012

Memberships

Education