Bar examination
Shipley Dalton was born and brought up on the Isle of Wight. He studied law at the University of Essex. While serving in the Army he took his Bar examination at Queen's University Belfast and was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1996, specialising in human rights and criminal defence. Later he completed a master's degree in human rights law at Queen's University Belfast. He also completed a further master's degree at Harvard University. In October 2019 he was called to the Bar of England and Wales.