John W. Shaw is a 1989 graduate of the Engineering Science program with high honors and distinction, and the recipient of the Department’s 1989 Francis H. Fenlon Award in recognition of his outstanding senior thesis in Engineering Science. Mr. Shaw began his career as an Edison Engineer with General Electric’s Aircraft Control Systems business. After two years, he attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and graduated magna cum laude in 1994. Mr. Shaw then worked for one year as a law clerk for the Honorable Murray M. Schwartz in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and joined the Wilmington, Delaware, law firm of Young Conaway Stargatt and Taylor, LLP, in 1995.

Today, Mr. Shaw chairs Young Conaway’s Intellectual Property Litigation department. He handles intellectual property and other complex commercial litigation and has participated in numerous jury trials. In addition to his business clients, Mr. Shaw has undertaken a wide variety of pro bono matters. Most recently, he successfully tried a prisoner civil rights case to a jury in the Delaware District Court. After deliberations, the jury awarded the client both compensatory and punitive damages. For this and other pro bono activities, his law firm presented Mr. Shaw with the 2005 H. James Conaway Jr. award for exemplary pro bono service to the community and the bar. In 2006, the judges of the United States District Court of the District of Delaware presented the Caleb R. Layton Service Award to Mr. Shaw in recognition of his service to the Court and to the bar of the Court.

NOTE: Two of our Centennial Fellows are spotlighted each week.