Serjeant Sullivan

Alexander Martin Sullivan, Serjeant-at-law (14 January 1871 - 9 January 1959) was an Irish Lawyer, best known as the leading counsel for the defence in the 1916 treason trial of Roger Casement. He was the last barrister in either Ireland or England to hold the rank of Serjeant, hence his nickname The Last Serjeant.

A younger son of A M Sullivan and Frances Donovan, he was born in Dublin and educated at Ushaw College, Belvedere College, Trinity College Dublin and King's Inns. Sullivan was called to the Irish Bar in 1892 and practised on the Munster Circuit.

He was appointed an Irish KC in 1908 and King's Third Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) in 1912 advancing to Second Serjeant in 1913 and First Serjeant in 1919 - the last holder of that position.

A moderate constitutional nationalist and supporter of the Irish Parliamentary Party, Sullivan was a prominent campaigner for the recruitment of Irishmen into the British army during the First World War. His opposition to Sinn Féin republicanism and his prominent role in conducting prosecutions on behalf of the Crown during the Irish War of Independence led to at least one attempt on his life. As a result, Sullivan relocated to England in 1921 and established a career at the English Bar, having previously been called to the Middle Temple in 1899. He subsequently became a Bencher and Treasurer of Middle Temple. By courtesy, he was always referred to as Serjeant Sullivan, even though that rank no longer existed in England.

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