Born in London to Indian parents in 1969, Shami Chakrabarti is married with one son. She read law at the London School of Economics and was called to the Bar in 1994. From 1996 until 2001 she worked as a Home Office lawyer advising Ministers and civil servants and working on legislation (12 parliamentary Bills) and litigation (in the higher Courts and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg). She joined Liberty (originally as In-House Counsel) in September 2001, and has spent much of the subsequent years campaigning against the most divisive and counterproductive anti-terror measures adopted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Two years later she became Director.

Shami spends a great deal of time writing and speaking on the need to create a “culture of respect for human rights”. She believes that human rights should be central to society’s ethical framework and that they are capable of enabling both diversity and common values. This stands in stark contrast with the way in which concerns as to crime, terrorism and asylum in particular, have been discussed and addressed in recent years.