“Why does fun have to be reserved for people under 25?” The question is posed rhetorically by Alex Marzec, a libel barrister with 5RB. Beyond the confines of the courtroom and chambers, Marzec is an inline skater. It’s an activity she adores but one that isn’t always greeted rapturously by onlookers.

“Sometimes people look askance, as if I should be doing something mature and sensible,” Marzec says. “Kids and adults who skateboard encounter the same syndrome. You get nasty looks whenever you’re doing something that looks like fun.”

Fun is decidedly what inline skating is about. Marzec was already an accomplished windsurfer and keen cyclist when she discovered inline skating, which rose to popularity in Britain in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Marzec, called to the Bar in 1990, took up the somewhat perilous-looking pursuit in her late twenties. “I studied law at the University of Warwick and then went to California to study for an LLM at Berkley. I kick myself looking back on that time, because even though so many people in California were into inline skating, I didn’t take it up. But it was great to find such a thriving skating community here in London.”

Marzec was drawn to inline skating for one simple reason – because “it looked like fun”. Initially she skated on her own, and when pregnant with her two sons hung up her skates. “But once the boys were a little older I saw the skates at the back of a cupboard and thought I’d like to give it a go again,” she says. Then came the discovery of the London Friday Night Skate scene, courtesy of www.lfns.co.uk.

“I found the LFNS online,” Marzec says. “They organise a 10 to 15-mile street skate around London every Friday night. The route, which is posted on the LFNS site, is different every week but it’s safe, with the police made aware of the skaters and marshals in place.” Marzec couldn’t believe how many people were there the first time she turned up – more than 100 skaters were all raring to go.

Marzec has attended the London Friday Night Skates, time permitting, for the past two years. She says the atmosphere is congenial - “everyone is very sociable and chatty” - but plays down her prowess: “A lot of the other skaters are fantastically better than me.” Nor does Marzec – who acted for The Guardian in its defence of Jonathan Aitken’s notorious libel action – expect to be trying her skills on ramps and bowls anytime soon. “I’m not into the aggressive forms of inline skating,” she says, though admits that she has started to enjoy slalom runs. She also draws the line at skating to work: “I’ve thought about it and I guess I could, but I don’t think I’d be happy to skate on roads by myself.”

Marzec agrees that inline skating is a way of leaving office stresses behind, but as a keen sportswoman all her life says that this is true of sport generally. “Physical activity is so all-absorbing that you simply can’t think about work,” she says. But skating has an added appeal, as she explains: “I love it because it’s an urban sport. You don’t need anything other than your skates and a dry stretch of tarmac.”

As for the sensation of inline skating itself, Marzec again opts for modesty, saying that she can’t do the same kinds of moves and tricks as the good skaters. But even as she says this, her thoughts turn to tonight’s skate. “When you get it right, the sensation is like flying. It’s a wonderful physical feeling.” She says, too, that LFNS is hosting an Easter Day skate, in which skaters will be dressed as Easter bunnies. Will she be donning such regalia? Marzec pauses, neither confirms nor denies and then, mindful of the fun awaiting her during the evening’s skate, is gone.

See www.lfns.co.uk for more information.

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