Mr Justice John Edwards attended Castleknock College and subsequently studied at University College Dublin, The University of Dublin, and the Honourable Society of Kings Inns. He was called to the Bar in 1983 and began practice in 1984 spending 13 years as a junior counsel and 10 years as senior counsel. He was a member of the South Western Circuit and the Munster Bar throughout his time in practice and was state prosecutor for County Kerry for approximately 10 years.

In June 2007, Mr Justice Edwards was appointed to the High Court when he also became an ex officio Bencher of King's Inns and was the judge in charge of the High Court Extradition and European Arrest Warrant list from 2011. In 2014, Mr Justice Edwards was appointed to the newly formed Court of Appeal. In 2019 he became the Senior Ordinary Judge on that Court. He is currently one of three members of the Irish panel of ad hoc Judges at the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr Justice Edwards is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and holds postgraduate diplomas in European law, International Commercial Arbitration, and Child Protection and Welfare. He has published articles, lectured, and has contributed to seminars in the areas of criminal law, family law, child protection, and extradition. He is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Law at the University of Limerick, where he is also currently studying for a PhD.

Mr Justice Edwards was President of the Association of Judges of Ireland from 2017 to 2019, having previously been its Secretary from 2011 to 2017. He is a member of the Superior Courts Rules Committee, the Irish Judicial Studies Committee, and the Kings Inns Library Committee. In addition, he participates as a member of a number of European Association of Judges working groups, as well as being a committee member of that body’s Provident Fund. He is a Vice President of the International Association of Judges Second Study Commission.