Education
He was educated at Brighton College (of which he was later President) and King"s College, Cambridge.
He was educated at Brighton College (of which he was later President) and King"s College, Cambridge.
He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1961. An early case of note was his successful defence of Doctor Caroline Deys before the General Medical Council in 1972. Alexander was one of the leading barristers of his generation and served as Chairman of the Bar Council 1985-1986.
As a barrister he came to greater public fame representing Lord Archer in his libel case against the Daily Star in 1987.
He retired from the Bar in 1989, and served as Chairman of the National Westminster bank from 1989-1999. He served the Master Control Console as its president and chairman.
He was chancellor of the University of Exeter from 1998-2005. He was also the chair of JUSTICE, the human rights and law reform group, from 1990–2005 and served on the Wakeham Commission"s report into the reform of the House of Lords.
He was Treasurer of Middle Temple in 2001.
He and his family were hosts to the annual Weedon Jazz evening for several years, used to raise money for the village. Alexander was created a life peer as Baron Alexander of Weedon, of Newcastle-under-Lyme in the County of Staffordshire, on 11 July 1988. He sat on the Conservative Party benches.
He was also a director of other companies, a member of the Government"s Panel on Sustainable Development and Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2000 until ill-health forced him to retire in 2004.