Fountain Court's Alex Taylor on choosing a 47-year career in clerking over joining Fulham FC at age 16

In July 1979, a 16-year-old Alex Taylor had a decision to make: take up a football apprenticeship at Fulham FC or join Fountain Court Chambers as a junior clerk, the lowest-paid and least familiar option on the table. He picked clerking.

After 47 years, one senior clerkship and a chambers that grew from roughly 20 members to 116, Taylor is preparing to hand over the reins to Sian Huckett, who takes over as senior clerk in January 2027.

In conversation with Bar & Bench's Pallavi Saluja, Taylor traces the evolution of clerking, from a paper-and-diary era with no formal career path to a sophisticated practice built on business development and client relationships. He also speaks on Fountain Court's deepening ties with India and a growing pipeline of Indian instructions into both London and Singapore.

[Watch Interview]

Edited excerpts follow.

Pallavi Saluja (PS): Can you tell us how you got into clerking and the fact that you started at the age of 16?

Alex Taylor (AT): It was through a careers officer at school. I was in a fortunate position, I'd been offered several jobs. Clerking was the least paid and the least familiar to my family. It really came down to a toss-up: take the clerkship, or take up an apprenticeship playing football at Fulham, who weren't in the Premier League at the time but were in the First Division. I made a very mature decision, in my opinion, and accepted an offer at Fountain Court Chambers. I started as a junior clerk in July 1979.

PS: Can you explain what clerking actually is, for readers who may not be familiar with barristers' chambers in the UK?

AT: I've seen a lot of changes in the 47 years I've been doing this. When I started, there was no email, no mobile phones; if a letter or information needed to move quickly, you did it by hand. I got to know London very well that way. There wasn't really a career path back then; I was probably the first of a new breed of clerks coming into the profession. It was very much a friends-and-family business and that's how people learned about the job.

What it's evolved into now is a genuinely sophisticated structure. Take a set like Fountain Court - 116 members, 46 King's Counsel. There's a real career path today.

One of the differences between the English legal profession and India, or other overseas jurisdictions, is that we have both barristers and solicitors. The barrister is the advocate; our work comes through solicitors on behalf of their clients. I think we fortunately work much more closely and collaboratively, but we'll be the interface between the solicitor and the barrister. The clerk is the interface between the two. Our job ranges from accepting instructions to guiding solicitors who don't yet know who they want to work with, liaising with court officials and negotiating fees on the barristers' behalf. That's one of the odder arrangements in our system: barristers have no contact with, or discussion about, their own fees. That's all done through the clerking team.

There's a business development side too, which has grown significantly over the last 10–20 years. We have a BD team, but relationships are still central to the job. And that's something good clerks have to be genuinely comfortable with. It's the part I enjoy most.

PS: What would you point to as the major changes in the clerking system over that time?

AT: Scale, for one. We were 20-something when I started; Fountain Court is now almost 120. There was no international dimension either. From an India perspective, Senior Advocate Gaurav Pachnanda is a full member of Fountain Court, which is unique. From the first of October, we'll also have an Indian junior who's come through the pupillage system. We've got door tenants from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Italy, the Cayman Islands. That international component is now extensive.

Technology, obviously, changed the job too. We used to have a huge diary of every barrister's schedule, printed and physically passed around the room. Now it's all computerised. Junior clerks used to haul trolleys of books and papers to court; now we've got paperless trials and far less paper generally.

The practice of law has become a business. That sophistication has improved our performance and the service we provide.

PS: You sit at an interesting intersection between barristers, solicitors and clients. What does that vantage point tell you about what each side expects from the other and where do these expectations sometimes differ?

AT: Collaboration and teamwork, really. Back in the day, the solicitors would always come to the barristers' chambers. I think we've reached a point in life where if there's a bigger team from the law firm, plus the clients are familiar with the offices of the law firm, it's not unusual for us to travel to solicitors. Overseas clients tend to like the historic setting we work in; domestic clients too, sometimes.

So I think that collaboration and communication, and the fact that within that what we're all looking to do is make the whole process as smooth as possible. There's always a degree of stress and emotion around a dispute - keeping that as calm and pleasant as possible is a role we all have to play. Trust is something you build over time and clear, honest, timely communication is what makes that interface work. If we're doing our job properly, that smoothens out the legal execution underneath it.

PS: Fountain Court Silks turn up regularly in India-linked arbitrations and disputes. How has instruction flow from Indian solicitors and corporates changed over the past decade?

AT: It's increased and I think that reflects a greater sophistication among disputes lawyers in India. There's always a degree of fear the first time you do something new: what will it cost, what will the experience be like. I've seen that fear ease as workflow has grown, including through our Singapore office. That also meant more opportunities to co-counsel with English-dominated tribunals, which has worked well. Even this week, opportunities have come up that simply wouldn't have 3 or 4 years ago. I'd like to think that flow keeps increasing.

PS: Do you see more work from Indian parties going to Singapore than London?

AT: At the moment, yes. London tends to see the larger disputes; Singapore has significant volume. SIAC has done a brilliant job marketing to Indian lawyers and clients. The LCIA slipped a little but is coming back. Kevin Nash's move to LCIA is an interesting development on that front. There's also been some Indian litigation in London and I think that's something to watch over the next 5 years.

PS: We spoke about India as a growing arbitration market and increasingly sophisticated disputes practices now. How important is the Indian market for Fountain Court Cambers?

AT: Really important. We were fortunate to be introduced to Gaurav Pachnanda by Lord Goldsmith - we'd seen opportunities in India but didn't have the connections at the time. Charles Beer, through the Commercial Bar Association's India sub-committee, helped us build a strategy. Arvind Datar later joined us, which raised our profile further. It's also helped that we're now dealing with different parts of India, not just one entry point.

Fountain Court generally keeps a loose strategy; you can't be too governed by it, you need flexibility. With India, we've actually sharpened that approach. With Gaurav now a full tenant called to the English Bar, I expect that relationship to deepen further.

PS: When an Indian law firm is looking to instruct English counsel for an arbitration or a commercial dispute, what should it actually be weighing when choosing a chamber in London?

AT: I'll be biased here. On general commercial disputes, given our reputation in the Indian legal community, we'd be at or near the top of the list - a reflection of how much deeper the relationships and understanding have become. Clients have relationships with other leading chambers as well. Clients will often call several sets of chambers and the English Bar also has specialist sets - tax chambers, IP chambers and so on. We'd like to think we're on the list for general commercial work, aviation and, increasingly, sport - we've made a real play for that sector. It's a global topic now too: a dispute might start in India but run in parallel elsewhere. A strong network matters and we can all help each other with that.

PS: With geopolitical situations and changes in technology, are you seeing different kinds of disputes coming to Chambers than the regular traditional disputes?

AT: You have to be adaptable. The contract is still at the heart of everything, but the businesses behind it have changed - more action on the private equity and asset management side, more ways of sourcing money beyond traditional banking, more insurance work. Crypto disputes aren't yet high volume, but you need people familiar with how that sector operates. Juniors increasingly bring different, complementary experience to leaders - part of our job is putting the right team together.

PS: Do you think the clerking system, the barrister chamber style, can work in India?

AT: Yes, is the short answer. I was an author on a book a few years ago, and I remember saying at the time: this book won't sell in England, but I can see its use outside it. Even this week, a couple of people have approached me about setting up a chambers-style system. We've seen law firms in England spin out disputes-only practices; we've seen individuals go out on their own in Singapore, where there's now a working chambers model. It's about keeping it simple, coming together and deciding to do it. There may be regulatory questions in India I'm not aware of, but I can't see why it couldn't work. There are real economies of scale in forming a chambers. It would be lovely to see it happen; the sky's the limit on that front.

PS: On pupillage at Fountain Court — what does it look like and how much of a role do clerks play in a pupil's path to tenancy?

AT: Timely question. My personal view is that clerks should have more involvement in the process. It's ultra-competitive to get a pupillage anywhere - it's a compressed, one-year training programme. We've got a pupil qualified in India who's completed a full 12-month pupillage and joins us in October and we've seen the same from Australia and New Zealand. Some members qualified as solicitors first before transferring to the Bar and still did the pupillage. I think that's important; everyone should go through it, laterals aside and those come in at a more senior level.

We clerk in teams and it's a very personal relationship between clerk and member. The clerking team has a real feel for what clients want and while we're not involved in selection, I think we should have more input into a pupil's development during that year and into what we expect of members in those early years. That might be a bit controversial at Fountain Court. But who cares?

PS: For an Indian law graduate hoping to pursue pupillage at a chambers like yours, what's the realistic path?

AT: Understand the competitiveness and that you might not get in the first time. It takes real determination and resilience. We look for ultra-high academic achievement. Apply for a mini-pupillage if you can; they're assessed and it's our first real look at whether someone will fit. Talk to people - each chambers offers a slightly different experience. So do your research and if you can find recent pupils to speak to, that's invaluable; they've lived it. Every barrister is self-employed, carrying their own stresses and strains, we try to take some of that out of the process, but temperamentally, you need to be prepared for the toughness the job demands.

PS: With Sian Huckett set to take over as senior clerk in January 2027, what's the one piece of advice you're leaving her with?

AT: Sian's going to watch this. Just be prepared. She's had the advantage of working closely with me and she may not say that, but I think it is one. You get pulled in a lot of directions and even after 47 years and 30-odd as senior clerk, things still come up that are firsts. Draw on your team - there's great talent and experience around you. I've drawn on Sian and others over the years. Don't take it all on yourself; that's a lot of pressure to carry alone. Sharing it would be my advice.

PS: What does the consultancy chapter look like for you?

AT: Still to be defined, but I'm hoping I still get to come to India and Singapore. I've really enjoyed watching the Asian side develop and I think I've built a good reputation in this part of the world. I'd like to be a sounding board for the team as they move into their new roles. It's a lonely existence at the top; actually, I felt that when I first became senior clerk elsewhere and even coming back to Fountain Court, which was familiar territory. I'd like to be there for my team, to coach and mentor where they want it. And generally, to stay close to the client relationships, listening to what our professional clients are experiencing and bringing that back into chambers so the service we offer stays relevant to what clients actually need.