Yvonne Mokgoro was born on 19 October 1950 in Galeshewe Township near Kimberley and matriculated at the local St Boniface High School in 1970. She studied mostly part-time, obtained the B.luris degree at the University of then known as Bophuthatswana now North West in 1982, the LLB degree two years later, and completed her LLM in 1987. She also studied at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA, where she was awarded another LLM degree.

She started her work-experience as a nursing assistant and later as a sales-person before her appointment as a clerk in the Department of Justice of the erstwhile Bophuthatswana. After completion of her LLB degree she was appointed maintenance officer and public prosecutor in the then Mmabatho Magistrate's Court.

In 1984, she was appointed lecturer in law in the Department of Jurisprudence, University of Bophuthatswana, where she rose through the ranks to Associate Professor and served there until 1991. From 1992 to 1993 she served as Associate Professor at the University of the Western Cape, from where she moved to the Centre for Constitutional Analysis at the Human Science Research Council, serving as Specialist Researcher (Human Rights), and also lecturing on a part time basis at the University of Pretoria, until her appointment to the Constitutional Court in October 1994.

Throughout her legal career she has taught a number of courses, including, Constitutional Law, Human Rights Law Jurisprudence, History of Law, Comparative Law, Criminal Law, Private Law and Customary Law at a number of universities in South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and Netherlands. She has written and presented papers and participated in a myriad of national and international conferences, seminars and workshops in South Africa and internationally, mainly in sociological jurisprudence and particularly on human rights, customary law, focussing on the impact of law on society generally, and on women and children specifically. She has served extensively as a resource person in this regard for non-governmental and community-based organisations and other initiatives in South Africa and internationally.

During her academic career, she has participated in a number of research projects and held positions on various non-governmental organisations, including community-based organisations.

She is the current Chairperson of the South African Law (Reform) Commission and has served on that body since 1995. She has served on the Advisory Committee of the South African - Canadian Linkage Project, from its inception in 1994 until it ceased operations in 2004. From 1995-2005 she was President of Africa Legal Aid, (AFLA) a non-governmental organisation, which provides legal aid and human rights education throughout Africa and is based in Accra, Ghana with satellite offices in Maastricht (Netherlands) and Pretoria (South Africa). She currently serves on a number of boards, university councils and Trusts, including the Boards of the Nelson Mandela-Rhodes Trust and the Centre for Human Rights, at the University of Pretoria, and is Chairperson of Venda University Council.

She has also served as Chairperson of the Selection Committee of the Press Council of South Africa which appoints the Press Ombudsperson and members of the Press Appeal Board.

She is honorary (emeritus) Professor of Law at the University of the North, University of the Western Cape, University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria, and the University of South Africa. She has been conferred with the Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) by the University of North West, the University of Natal, the University of Toledo (Ohio) USA, University of the Western Cape and University of Pretoria. She is a recipient of a number of other honours and awards, including the Educational Opportunities Council scholarship to study in the USA (1989-1990) the Women’s Law and Public Law Fellowship, by Georgetown University Law Centre, Washington DC (1990), the Human Rights Award by the Black Lawyers Association, (1995) the Oude Molen Reserve Order of Merit (1995/1996), the Legal Profession’s Woman Achiever Award by the Centre for Human Rights, and the University of Pretoria (2001), University of the North School of Law Excellence Award (2003), the Kate Stoneman Democracy Award (Albany Law School, New York, U.S.A (2003), the Tshwane Outstanding Service Award (TOSA) in 2006 and the James Wilson Award by the University of Pennsylvania Law School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2008).

She holds membership of the International Women’s Association (Washington DC) and the International Association of Women Judges, the International Federation of Women Lawyers as Interim President of the South African Chapter and the South African Women Lawyers Association.

She is married and has four adult children.