Bijal Shah comes to Boston College Law School as an Associate Professor of Law and Provost Faculty Fellow. Her research lies at the intersection of administrative law, structural constitutionalism, and critical theory, with a focus on the dynamics of immigration and interagency coordination. She will be teaching administrative law, criminal law, and a seminar. Shah is one of five recent faculty additions at BC Law.
“I am thrilled to join the Boston College Law School community. It is an honor to be part of a faculty that is collegial and accomplished in equal parts, and to work with such a thoughtful and committed group of students,” Shah says. “As a scholar of constitutional, administrative and immigration law whose work is grounded in the realities of bureaucracy, I am excited by the Law School’s interest in and support of my data-driven, critical and reformist approach.”
Shah’s scholarship can be found in publications such as the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Yale Journal on Regulation, and the Minnesota Law Review, among others. In addition, she is the chair emeritus of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Legislation & Law of the Political Process.
In the recent past, Shah was an associate professor of law at Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and an acting assistant professor of Law at NYU School of Law. In Spring 2022, she was a visiting professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law.
Prior to entering academia, Shah served as Associate General Counsel for the Department of Justice / Executive Office for Immigration Review, writing immigration regulations and national policies on behalf of the Attorney General, White House, and Congress. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Department of Homeland Security US Citizenship and Immigration Services. She also served details in the Department of Justice, Homeland Security headquarters, and the State Department. Shah earned her JD from Yale Law School, MPA from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, and her BA from Brandeis University.
Shah’s dedication to justice, commitment to public service, and interest in diversity and inclusion are in keeping with the values of BC Law, where she hopes to have an impact. “Given the growing enthusiasm at Boston College for diversity and inclusion, I am looking forward to applying my expertise in these areas to build institutional capacity at the Law School and beyond,” she said. “And as a native of Massachusetts, I am delighted to move my young family back home.”