Paperback: Alexandra Wilson was a teenager when her dear family friend Ayo was stabbed on his way home from football.
Ayo’s death changed Alexandra. His death compelled her to enter the legal profession to search for answers. As a junior criminal and family law barrister she finds herself navigating a world and a set of rules designed by a privileged few.
In her debut book In Black and White, Alexandra beautifully re-creates the tense court room scenes, the heart-breaking meetings with teenage clients and the moments of frustration and triumph that make up a young barrister’s life.
Alexandra speaks with raw honesty about her experience as a mixed-race woman from a non-traditional background in a profession that is sorely lacking in diverse representation. A justice system in which a disproportionately large number of black and mixed-race people are charged, convicted and sent to prison.
She shows us how it feels to defend someone who hates the colour of your skin or someone you suspect is guilty, and the heart-breaking youth justice cases she has worked on. We see what it’s like for the teenagers coerced into county line drug deals and the damage that can be caused when we criminalise teenagers.
Her account of what she has witnessed as a young mixed-race barrister is in equal parts shocking, compelling, confounding and powerful.
Alexandra’s story is unique in a profession still dominated by a section of society with little first-hand experience of the devastating impact of violent crime.
In Black and White (2020) is a young barrister’s story of race and class in a broken justice system.
About the author: Alexandra Wilson is a barrister specialising in criminal and family law at 5SAH Chambers. In her criminal law practice, she represents a variety of clients charged with serious matters and specialises in young and vulnerable clients. Her family law practice includes private children, public children, domestic abuse and finance cases.
Alexandra Wilson was a teenager when a close family friend was stabbed to death on his way home from football. His death compelled her to enter the legal profession to search for answers and make a difference. She studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford and and was awarded two prestigious scholarships, enabling her to research the impact of police shootings in the US on young people’s attitudes to the police.
Alexandra studied for a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and her Master of Laws at BPP University in London. She was awarded the first Queen’s scholarship by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, awarded to students showing exceptional promise in a career at the Bar. She specialises in children and finance law, particularly cases with an international element and has a busy practice in family law, which includes private children, public children, domestic abuse and finance cases.
Alexandra’s criminal practice is in the Magistrates’, Youth and Crown Courts. She has recently secured acquittals for clients charged with domestic assaults and public order offences. She specialises in young and vulnerable clients in her criminal practice and has represented a variety of clients in criminal cases charged with serious matters.
Alexandra is the founder of Black Women In Law, an organisation with over 500 members. She also co-founded One Case At A Time, an organisation set up to assist disenfranchised minorities in the legal process.
Alexandra grew up on the border of East London and Essex. She is the eldest of four children with a White British mother and Black British father. Her paternal grandparents were born in Jamaica and came to England as part of the Windrush generation.
Alexandra’s best-selling debut book In Black and White, tells the story of her early legal career, recreating tense courtroom scenes, heart-breaking meetings with teenage clients and moments of frustration and triumph that make up a young barrister’s life.
Her Twitter and Instagram are under the handle: @essexbarrister
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