Jay Shapiro

Adjunct NTS

Jay Shapiro
Office
McCone Building
Email
jays@middlebury.edu

Jay Shapiro, Middlebury College, ’77, was a New York City prosecutor for 20 years, specializing in complex investigations, and then was a partner at major law firms handling civil litigation. In 2023, he was a Fulbright US Scholar in Albania, lecturing at the School of Magistrates and the University of Tirana. He’s the author of numerous treatises on criminal practice.

Jay is an attorney from New York who has practiced law for over forty years, both in the public and private sector. For most of his first two decades in practice, Jay was a prosecutor in New York City, serving as an assistant district attorney in Bronx County for eight years and then in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, where he rose to the position of Deputy District Attorney in charge of the Rackets Division. In that role, he supervised more than twenty-five assistant district attorney who prosecuted white-collar offenses, corruption cases, organized crime offenders, gangs and public corruption cases. As a prosecutor, Jay tried homicides, arsons, fraud cases, robberies and public integrity crimes. His involvement in investigations included supervising electronic surveillance and undercover operations and the prosecution of large fraud rings.

Following his tenure in Brooklyn, Jay moved to civil practice at the New York City offices of large law firms. His portfolio there included civil fraud cases, trademark infringement actions, real estate litigation, cyber matters as well as other high-stakes financial cases. He has appeared in cases throughout New York State and in courts in the states of Washington, California, New Jersey, Delaware and Florida. Jay has argued appeals in New York state and federal courts, and in Delaware and Florida.

For fifteen years, Jay taught a course on legal writing at New York Law School. He has lectured police departments, including the New York City Police Department, federal investigators, New York City Fire Marshals and other attorneys. He is also a faculty member in the Masters Program in Financial Integrity at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Jay has been honored by numerous law enforcement and private organizations, including the New York City Police Department, the New York City Fire Department, the Recording Industry of America and the New York State Insurance Fraud’s Bureau; also, he was named to the Society of Benchers of Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

He received his undergraduate degree from Middlebury College, graduating with honors in Political Science/English and he was awarded his JD from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Over the course of this semester, students will encounter often outlandish-but very
real-tales of those who commit financial crimes using many ruses, including
fraudulent shell companies and existing front companies. Regardless of their
techniques and schemes, one theme is prevalent: to investigate and prosecute these
crimes, you must combine puzzle solving skills, organizational techniques that allows
you to categorize and analyze information, research abilities and legal creativity.
To effectively build prosecutions against complex criminal activity, investigators
combine creative investigative strategies that work within the confines of the law,
often working closely with attorneys. These matters may arise in challenging
circumstances, which is very often the situation in the investigation of financial
crimes, regardless of whether the cases are brought through criminal or civil
enforcement.
One of my goals in this course is to provide students with a strong foundation to
allow them to understand the relevant legal and other governance principles
applicable to global financial crime and then apply what is learned about identifying,
investigating and combating those activities.
In this course, we will explore multi-faceted efforts used to protect the financial
integrity of private businesses and organizations from global financial crime. We will
focus on regulatory, investigative (by state actors and non-government investigative
bodies) and legal aspects of compliance with applicable laws and regulations. We will
review corporate governance, as well as US and international investigative and
prosecutorial agencies. We will also discuss the applicable judicial systems and laws.
We will also spend time considering the ethical and moral implications of the
underlying crimes, the purported harms, and the approaches used to prevent, mitigate
and punish the criminal activity.

Terms Taught

Spring 2024 - MIIS, Spring 2025 - MIIS

View in Course Catalog

Publications

  • New York Suppression Manual LexisNexis Publications (Co-authored with Lewis R. Katz)
  • Criminal Law and Practice New York State Bar Association
  • Criminal Practice Handbook LexisNexis Publications
  • Criminal Law Deskbook LexisNexis Publications
  • Criminal Law Advocacy Reporter LexisNexis Publications
  • New York Criminal Practice, Selected Chapters LexisNexis Publications
  • New Developments in New York Evidentiary Law (2009 Edition) West Publications
  • Moore’s Federal Practice, 3d Ed., Summary Judgment (Matthew Bender)
  • ”Terrorism, the Constitution, and the Courts,“ New York Law School Journal of Human Rights, Volume 18 (Spring 2002)