Professor Shapiro practiced law for 10 years with the Department of Justice Canada prior to joining the faculty of the law school. His primary area of teaching is in working with students to develop practical legal skills such as persuasive legal writing and oral advocacy.

Areas of substantive teaching interest include: Criminal Law, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law and Immigration Law. He has also taught Introduction to Law for several years, which is a course offered by the law school to non-law school students. 

Professor Shapiro's primary research interest is the intersection of criminal law and administrative areas of law, particularly where there are overlapping interests, such as the use of immigration measures as a way of dealing with national security threats.