Before becoming a solicitor in private practice Shiona had a 10 year career in the voluntary sector. Firstly running the Scottish office of the United Kingdom Immigrants Advisory Service during which period she was Chair of Strathclyde Community Relations Council, Strathclyde Interpreting Service and a member of the Commission for Racial Equality’s Scottish Advisory Committee.

Shiona’s second voluntary sector post was head of Glasgow Council for Voluntary Service’s Policy and Information Unit. During this period she was a member of the executive and Policy Committees of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), a member of the Electricity Consultative Council for the South of Scotland (the then statutory consumer body for the industry), a member of the Scottish Advisory Committee to the National Aids Trust and Convenor of the Board of Managers of Jordanhill School.

After working as a solicitor with John S. Boyle, Glasgow, Shiona became a Procurator Fiscal Depute. In 2003 she was appointed a Sheriff, a post which she held for 18 years, mainly in the Sheriffdom of South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway at Hamilton. Shiona retired in 2021.