Richard Shiffrin was born in New Haven, Connecticut and attended New Haven public schools.  He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1970 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1975.

After graduation from law school, Mr. Shiffrin served as an assistant public defender in New Haven and then as an assistant state’s attorney in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney in Connecticut.  He then served eleven years as an assistant state attorney in Miami, Florida before being appointed, in 1993, as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice.   In 1997, Mr. Shiffrin assumed the position of Deputy General Counsel (Intelligence) in the U.S. Department of Defense and in 2003 served as the Acting General Counsel of the Defense Intelligence Agency until his retirement from the federal government in July of 2003.  Mr. Shiffrin is now a consultant in the national security field.

Mr. Shiffrin was a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security from 2001 to 2003.  He was a visiting professor of law at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law and taught as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Miami from 1991 to 1993.  In addition, he has been a frequent lecture on national security issues at law schools and various government, civic and academic fora.