Born and raised in New York City, Ms. Shaw is a graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, and Brooklyn College, CUNY. She began her law school education at the Fordham University School of Law, and two years at the Georgetown University Law Center (as a "Visiting Student"), earning her law degree from Fordham in 1979. Entering the practice of law with a boutique lawfirm in Washington, DC., her responsibilities included establishing Tax Exempt Organizations, and Legislative Drafting in the areas of Health and Human Services. She was admitted to the DC Bar, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Tax Court.

Ms. Shaw then joined the Law Department of PPG Industries, Inc., a Fortune 100 Company, in Pittsburgh, PA, where she became Counsel to the Fiberglass Division and to the Credit and Collections Department. She was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar, Third Circuit District Court and Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Upon the birth of her son, she left corporate practice and reduced her workload to Court-appointed Arbitrations, Tax, and Trust and Estate work.

In 1990, Ms. Shaw joined a solo real estate practitioner, bringing her skills in General Commercial Law and developing her practice to provide a wide range of services to small business owners, in such areas as Commercial litigation, Contract negotiation and drafting, Trusts and Estates, Domestic Relations, and Mergers and Acquisitions. Ms. Shaw continued to serve as a Court-appointed Arbitrator.

When, in 1998, Ms. Shaw was admitted to the Florida Bar, she established a solo practice in Boca Raton, Florida, where she now focuses her attention on Mediation and Arbitration, and General Commercial Law. She has mediated hundreds of disputes in the areas of General Commercial Law, Domestic Relations and Family Law, and Real Estate Law. She is actively engaged in rendering services to the US Postal Service as a REDRESS Mediator, and to the Better Business Bureau as an AUTO LINE Arbitrator. Ms. Shaw is expanding into the areas of Arts and Entertainment and Intellectual Property mediation and arbitration.