Judge Bryer qualified from his law degree in London in 1984, doing articles in Uxbridge. He joined the court service as a magistrates’ legal advisor and served in adult then juvenile courts. He became deputy clerk to the Westminster bench in 1997 and later the city of London. In addition, Judge Bryer was secretary to the inner London advisory committee on the appointment of magistrates from 1992.

In 2003 Judge Bryer became a fee-paid judge in mental health and in March 2009 he was appointed a full-time judge in mental health. In 2014 he was ticketed to undertake cases involving restricted patients.

Judge Bryer has undertaken extensive work with the Judicial Appointments Commission and is now one of a pool of judges responsible for interviewing and assessing legal and non-legal candidates - including social workers - for judicial office.