Schona Jolly

Schona Jolly KC is a leading barrister, practising from Cloisters Chambers in London. She is highly regarded for her work at the confluence of equality, domestic and international human rights, employment, sports, artificial intelligence and international law. She leads teams of lawyers in complex domestic and international claims, including in group litigation, and is widely sought after for strategic advice on litigation and policy.  

Schona is Head of Cloisters Human Rights and International Practice Groups. She was Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales from 2019- 2021, after being Vice Chair and an Executive Committee member. She is also a Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths University, London. She was appointed King’s Counsel (then Queen’s Counsel) in 2017. 

She has co-authored and contributed to various textbooks on human rights, equality and employment law (including, recently: Judicial Independence Under Threat (OUP/British Academy); Equal Pay (OUP); and Sweet & Maxwell’s Human Rights Practice) as well as a contributor in the national press and academic journals. 

Schona’s legal expertise is bolstered by her longstanding experience across international relations, rule of law and human rights legal and policy issues. She is particularly interested in legal and political systems which are faced with acute challenge. In recent years, this has included work relating to Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Myanmar, South Asia and Turkey, amongst others. She works with civil society groups, parliamentarians, government agencies, judges and legal professionals around the world in a strategic and advisory capacity. She is an experienced investigator in reputationally important and sensitive matters, as well as a mediator. She is multilingual, has lived and worked in a number of countries, and has a long-standing interest in Latin America. 

In 2024, as an Academic Visitor to Hertford College and a Research Visitor to the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights,  Schona will be deepening her work on international law, human rights and foreign policy.