Andrew Simmonds, St John's

Biographical Information

I am returning to Cambridge as a student after 42 years. I read Law as an undergrad in the 1970s then practised at the London Bar. I was appointed a QC in 1999 and a part-time/deputy High Court Judge in 2006. In 2017 I decided that there was more to life than the Law and I read for a Masters in English at Queen Mary, London. 

I am now starting a PhD which will examine the engagement of early modern dramatists (esp. Shakespeare, Middleton, Marston, Webster) with the constitutional issues raised by James I's accession and, in particular, whether the drama of the period offered a persistent, politically radical critique of James's apparent insistence (itself a contested issue) on the subservience of the law to sovereign will. So, I have not entirely abandoned the law...

Outside work, I like to run (slowly) and ski (fast) and I go to the Globe/Sam Wanamaker Theatre when I can.

Research Interests

Early modern literature, esp. drama. Law-in-literature studies. Interdisciplinarity.