The Baroness Chakrabarti | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2018 | |
| Shadow Attorney General | |
| In office 6 October 2016 – 6 April 2020 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Karl Turner |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Falconer of Thoroton |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 6 September 2016 Life Peerage | |
| Chancellor of the University of Essex | |
| In office 2 September 2014 – 22 July 2017 | |
| Vice Chancellor | Anthony Forster |
| Preceded by | The Lord Phillips of Sudbury |
| Succeeded by | John Bercow |
| Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University | |
| In office 2006–2015 | |
| Vice Chancellor | Janet Beer |
| Preceded by | Jon Snow |
| Succeeded by | Katherine Grainger |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sharmishta Chakrabarti 16 June 1969 London, England |
| Political party | Labour (since 2016)[1] |
| Spouse |
Martyn Hopper
(m. 1995; div. 2014) |
| Children | 1 |
| Residence(s) | Lambeth, South London, England, UK |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics (LLB) |
Sharmishta Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti CBE PC (born 16 June 1969) is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promotes civil liberties and human rights, from 2003 to 2016. From 2016 to 2020, she served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales.
Chakrabarti was born in the London Borough of Harrow, and studied law at the London School of Economics. After graduating, she was called to the Bar and then worked as an in-house legal counsel for the Home Office. When she was the director of Liberty, she campaigned against what Liberty considered "excessive" anti-terror legislation. In this role, she frequently contributed to BBC Radio 4 and various newspapers, and was described in The Times as "probably the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years". She was one of the panel members of the Leveson Inquiry into press standards throughout 2011 and 2012. Between 2014 and 2017, she served as Chancellor of the University of Essex.
In August 2016, Chakrabarti was made a life peer in the Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.
- ^ "Anti-Semitism inquiry leader Shami Chakrabarti joins Labour". BBC News. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
- ^ "Shami Chakrabarti". Desert Island Discs. 2 November 2008. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.