Alex Sharpe

Year of Call: 1988

Alex Sharpe is a social and legal theorist, legal historian and gender, sexuality and law scholar and activist.

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Alex Sharpe is a Professor of Law at the University of Warwick and a non-practising barrister. She is a legal theorist, legal historian, and gender, sexuality and law scholar and activist.

In particular, she helped constitute the field of trans/law study with her monograph, Transgender Jurisprudence: Dysphoric Bodies of Law (London: Cavendish, 2002).

Raza Halim highlights need for ‘action’ to evacuate up to 30 Gazan children as third child evacuee arrives in UK for medical treatment

Garden Court barrister Raza Halim is a founding member of Project Pure Hope, and acts as a legal advisor.

Friday 1 Aug 2025

Azroy Dawes-Clarke Inquest: Jury finds unnecessary and disproportionate restraint caused death at HMP Elmley

The family is represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Allison Munroe KC of Garden Court Chambers, Oliver Carter of Irwin Mitchell, and Philip Dayle of No5 Chambers. They are supported by INQUEST Senior Caseworker Jodie Anderson.

Tuesday 29 Jul 2025

UK approves Project Pure Hope medical evacuation of children from Gaza

Raza Halim of Garden Court Chambers, along with a small group of doctors and health executives, is a founding member of Project Pure Hope and acts as a legal advisor.

Tuesday 29 Jul 2025

Tim Baldwin explores decline in community care legal aid lawyers with Legal Action Group and Access Social Care

Tim Baldwin of the Garden Court Chambers Housing Law Team has co-written an article for Legal Action Group, with Karen Ashton of Central England Law Centre, Louise Eardley of Gold Jennings, and Caroline Miles and Laura Peters of Access Social Care.

Tuesday 29 Jul 2025

Tim Baldwin co-authors article for Legal Action Group on expanding housing Legal Aid

Tim Baldwin of the Garden Court Chambers Housing Law Team has co-written an article for Legal Action Group, with Dianne Cowie of Duncan Lewis and Laura Coyle of Turpin Miller.

Tuesday 29 Jul 2025

Jury finds “gross failings” contributed to death of man restrained by police during mental health crisis

Stephen Simblet KC, Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers, instructed by Erica San and Carolynn Gallwey at Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, represented the family of Kaine Fletcher at an inquest into his death.

Monday 28 Jul 2025

Publications

Key publications:

Sexual Intimacy and Gender Identity 'Fraud': Reframing the Legal & Ethical Debate (London: Routledge, 2018) pp. 204.

Foucault's Monsters and the Challenge of Law (London: Routledge, 2010) pp. 184.

Transgender Jurisprudence: Dysphoric Bodies of Law (London: Cavendish, 2002) pp. 230.

Publications on the Gender Recognition Act and Equality Act

Refereed Journals

‘Will Gender Self-Declaration Undermine Women’s Rights and Lead to an Increase in Harms?’ (2020) Modern Law Review (published online 11/1/20) 

Alex has also published elsewhere on this topic including in The Guardian, The Conversation, the Inherently Human blog and (with chambers colleague, Dr Peter Dunne) the Oxford Human Rights Hub.​

Publications on 'Gender Identity Fraud'

Refereed Journals

  1. 'The Ethicality of the Demand for (Trans)parency in Sexual Relations (2017) 43(2) Australian Feminist Law Journal 161-183.
  2. 'Queering Judgement: The Case of Gender Identity Fraud' (2017) 81(5) Journal of Criminal Law 417-435.
  3. 'Expanding Liability for Sexual Fraud Through the Concept of Active Deception': A Flawed Approach' (2016) 80(1) Journal of Criminal Law 28-44.
  4. 'Sexual Intimacy, Gender Variance and the Criminal Law' (2015) 33(4) Nordic Journal of Human Rights 380-391.
  5. 'Criminalising Sexual Intimacy: Transgender Defendants and the Legal Construction of Non-Consent' (2014) Criminal Law Review 207-223.
  6. 'Transgender Marriage and the Legal Obligation to Disclose Gender History' (2012) 75(1) Modern Law Review 33-53.

 Alex has also published elsewhere on this topic including a series of articles on the Inherently Human Blog and articles in The Conversation, Legal Voice, and the New Statesman

A full list of Alex’s academic and journalistic publications can be found on her University homepage.

Training and seminars

Alex regularly presents keynote addresses, public lectures and appears at many other academic and public speaking events involving, but not confined to, transgender rights concerns. In recent years, she has been invited to speak in New York, Prague, Tel Aviv, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Lund, Oslo, Vienna, San Francisco, Zurich, Berlin, Rome, Paris as well as in the UK. She has a significant media profile and is widely consulted and interviewed by various media (e.g. Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, LBC London, ABC National Radio Australia, CBC National Radio Canada) and publishes regularly in national newspapers (e.g. The Independent, The Guardian, New Statesman) and other media outlets (e.g. Oxford University Human Rights Hub, Diva Magazine, The Conversation).

Education

  • LLB (Warwick), LLM (UWA), PhD (Keele)
  • Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1990) and the High Court of Australia (1991)

Professional Memberships

Social and legal Studies Association
International Legal Committee of WPATH (World Professional Association of Transgender Health (former member)
Amnesty International, Expert Committee on Criminalisation of Sexual and Reproductive Conduct (former member)

 

We are top ranked by independent legal directories and consistently win awards.

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