Joanna Cherry KC was elected as Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West in 2015 and re-elected in 2017 and 2019. Prior to the disolution of parliament for the UK General Election in May 2024, she was Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

She was the SNP’s Spokesperson on Justice and Home Affairs from 2015-2021. In 2019 she led the successful ‘Cherry Case’ against Boris Johnson’s unlawful prorogation of the UK Parliament. She was also a co-litigant in the case against the UK Government at the EU Court of Justice, which established that Article 50 could be unilaterally revoked. Joanna was called to the bar in 1995 and took silk in 2009. From 2003-2008 she served as Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Government and from 2008-2011 she served as Crown Counsel and was one of the first specialist sex crimes prosecutors in Scotland’s pioneering National Sex Crimes Unit.

Joanna has been a member of the SNP since 2008 and is a long term supporter of independence and home rule. During the Referendum, she campaigned in Edinburgh and co-founded and led “Lawyers for Yes”, a group of around 200 lawyers who had a high profile during the campaign.

Joanna co-authored the textbook “Mental Health and Scots Law in Practice’.