Vijay Shanker, Esq., is Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division at the United States Department of Justice. He has briefed and argued almost 60 federal appeals, including four en banc rehearings. Mr. Shanker is currently serving on detail as Senior Litigation Counsel in the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, where he investigates and prosecutes violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related offenses and advises attorneys and leadership on a range of legal issues and litigation matters.

From October 2012 to February 2014, Mr. Shanker served in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, first as Senior Counsel and then as Acting Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General. Mr. Shanker has been awarded the Attorney General's John Marshall Award, the Assistant Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service, and the Assistant Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service.

Mr. Shanker received his Bachelor of Arts degree in public policy studies, cum laude, from Duke University. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was named to the Order of the Coif and served as a Notes Editor on the Virginia Law Review. He was awarded the Roger & Madeleine Traynor Prize for “the graduate who has produced the best written work” and the Law School Alumni Association Best Note Award. Following law school, Mr. Shanker clerked for the Honorable Chester J. Straub on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.