Alistair Clark initially followed a career as an academic and was a Senior Lecturer teaching mainly company and commercial law to LLB students and postgraduates. On coming to the Bar he established a busy practice, frequently dealing with complex cases, and he has gained extensive experience mainly in commercial litigation but also in intellectual property law and in occasionally high-profile defamation cases.
As a junior he conducted many actions, often of a substantial nature, on his own but he also acted with a large number of highly-experienced and able senior counsel. Since taking Silk in 2007, he has been regularly engaged in high-value litigations of a commercial nature. His practice is heavily court-based and he has conducted a wide range of debates, proofs, jury trials, appeals and reclaiming motions, as well as having acted in commercial mediations. He also has extensive expertise in the full range of written work which his areas of practice entail. He has occasionally acted as an ad-hoc advocate depute, successfully prosecuting cases in the High Court involving murder and firearms offences, and conducting trials involving a range of other serious crimes.
He acts mainly for companies and local authorities and his primary focus is on litigation in the Court of Session. For many years, he has been regularly instructed in cases in the Commercial Court and he has gained substantial experience in the workings and procedures of that court.