Alex Carlile, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants,[2] was born in Ruabon, Wrexham, Wales and brought up in Lancashire.

Carlile was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to national security law.

[5] Carlile was created a life peer on 27 July 1999, as Baron Carlile of Berriew, of Berriew in the County of Powys,[6] having previously been a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire from 1983 to 1997; he had stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal for East Flintshire in February and October 1974.

[7] According to the Register of Lords' Interests, Lord Carlile of Berriew was at various times a director of 5 Bell Yard Ltd and the Wynnstay Group of agricultural feed manufacturers, agricultural goods merchants and fuel oil distributors; a deputy High Court judge; and a chairman of the Competition Appeals Tribunal.

He is a Honorary Doctor of Laws in the Universities of Swansea, South Wales, Chester, Manchester Metropolitan, and the Hungarian Institute of Criminology.

[13] In 2016 Carlile sat on the founding committee of National Opposition to Windfarms, and sponsored the launch event at the Houses of Parliament.

[18] In 2015, he joined with a cross-party group of peers to reintroduce the Draft Communications Data Bill, known by its opponents as the "Snoopers' Charter".

[20] He was vocal in his opposition to the UK coalition government's Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, proposing many amendments.

[27] On 11 July 2018, Carlile (after being granted a visa) was refused entry to India at Indira Gandhi International Airport where he was due to address a press conference in defence of jailed Bangladeshi politician Khaleda Zia and meet a human rights body.