Scott J. Shapiro

Scott J. Shapiro is an American legal philosopher and professor specializing in jurisprudence , international law , and cybersecurity.

He holds the position of Charles F. Southmayd Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at Yale Law School , where he also directs the Center for Law and Philosophy and founded the Yale Cybersecurity Lab.

Shapiro earned his BA and PhD in philosophy from Columbia University and his JD from Yale Law School , serving as senior editor of the Yale Law Journal .

His scholarship examines the nature of legality, the moral foundations of legal systems, and the implications of hacking and digital threats for governance and ethics.

Among his influential works are Legality (2011), which articulates a planning theory of law emphasizing legal institutions as coordinated systems of social plans; The Internationalists (2017, co-authored with Oona Hathaway), analyzing the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact's role in reshaping norms against war; and Fancy Bear Goes Phishing (2023), tracing cybersecurity history through major hacks to reveal vulnerabilities in the information age.

These contributions have advanced debates in legal theory by integrating philosophical analysis with historical and practical insights, though his planning theory has drawn critical scrutiny for potentially underemphasizing individual moral agency in favor of collective institutional functions.

Scott J. Shapiro received his Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Columbia University in 1987. Public records provide limited details on his early life and family background prior to university studies.

Shapiro then pursued legal education at Yale Law School , earning his Juris Doctor in 1990 and serving as senior editor of The Yale Law Journal , an early indicator of his involvement in legal scholarship. This training complemented his philosophical foundation, facilitating an interdisciplinary approach to subsequent academic pursuits.

Returning to Columbia University , Shapiro completed a Master of Philosophy in 1992 and a Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy in 1996, during which he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa . His graduate work emphasized analytical methods central to philosophical inquiry into social institutions.

Following the completion of his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1996, Shapiro began his academic career as Assistant Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University , serving from 1996 to 1999. He advanced to Associate Professor of Law at Cardozo from 1999 to 2001 and then to full Professor of Law from 2001 to 2005, during which time he also held a visiting professorship at Yale Law School from 2002 to 2003.

In 2005, Shapiro transitioned to the University of Michigan , where he held joint appointments as Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy until 2008, contributing to interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of legal theory and philosophy.

Shapiro joined Yale Law School in July 2008 as Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy , a move that positioned him within one of the leading institutions for legal scholarship. In 2012, he was appointed the Charles F. Southmayd Professor of Law , recognizing his established contributions to jurisprudence. That same year, he assumed directorship of Yale's Center for Law and Philosophy , an entity established in 2005 as a collaborative initiative between Yale Law School and the Department of Philosophy to foster empirical and analytical integration of legal and philosophical inquiry.

Shapiro has served as Director of Yale's Center for Law and Philosophy, an institution dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary scholarship and debates on core questions in legal theory and jurisprudence .