Bijal Shah

Bijal Shah's research lies at the intersection of administrative law and structural constitutionalism, and is grounded in the specifics of agency dynamics (particularly in matters of immigration and interagency coordination).  Her work appears in publications including the Harvard Law Review, Yale Journal on Regulation, Minnesota Law Review and NYU Law Review, among others.  Her most recent paper, forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review, illustrates how executive agencies defend their turf and thereby wield control over the administrative state by litigating against independent agencies.  Professor Shah is also the incoming chair of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Legislation & Law of the Political Process.   

Prior to joining the Sandra Day O' Connor College of Law, Professor Shah was an acting assistant professor at the NYU School of Law.  Before entering the academy, Professor Shah was Associate General Counsel for the Department of Justice / Executive Office for Immigration Review.  In this position, she wrote immigration regulations, legislation and national policies on behalf of the General Counsel, White House and Congress.  Earlier in her career, Professor Shah served as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Department of Homeland Security / U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and served details in the Department of Justice, Homeland Security headquarters and the State Department.

Professor Shah is a graduate of the Yale Law School, where she was a senior editor on the Yale Law Journal and a Yale University Kirby Human Rights Fellow.  Professor Shah is also a graduate of the Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government.  Immediately after completing her law and graduate studies, Professor Shah was a Harvard University Sinclair Kennedy Fellow, during which time she worked with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in Mauritius.  Before entering law school, Professor Shah was an investment banker at UBS PaineWebber.