He holds a J.D. from Stanford, a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in Rhetoric, an M.A. from McGill University in Philosophy and a B.A. from Columbia University. Before law school, he worked as a financial consultant to California local governments, and, after graduating from law school, he worked as an attorney in the public finance department of Sidley Austin in San Francisco. Professor Shanske then clerked for Judge Pierre N. Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.