Biography
William Shapiro joined Lewis & Clark Law School as an Assistant Professor of Law in 2026. His research focuses on the intersection of constitutional law and property law.
From 2001 to 2025, Professor Shapiro served in numerous roles in the United States Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, including as a Senior Trial Attorney and Assistant Section Chief. In those roles, he briefed, argued, and supervised dozens of cases in federal courts, with a focus on Fifth Amendment cases and National Environmental Policy Act claims. During his career with the Department of Justice, Professor Shapiro led eighteen trial teams in defense of federal agencies in multi-million-dollar civil cases involving water management decisions, mineral extraction, tribal issues, and land use policy. Professor Shapiro also worked with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section, where he prosecuted misdemeanor and felony crimes in federal district courts.
From 2025 to 2026, Professor Shapiro served as Instructor at the University of California at Davis School of Law in Davis, California, and as a Visiting Professor at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California. He began his career as a law clerk to Judge Tena Campbell and Judge Thomas Greene in the Federal District Court for the District of Utah. Before law school, Professor Shapiro taught Mathematics for two years in Otse, Botswana, as a volunteer with the United States Peace Corps.
Professor Shapiro received his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Rhodes College, and his juris doctor, cum laude, from the University of Colorado at Boulder.