Shaw was raised in Birmingham, Alabama. He received a B.S. in chemistry from Auburn University in 1979 and graduated from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in 1982. In 2004, he received a Master of Laws degree in the judicial process from the University of Virginia School of Law. Shaw started a general law practice in Birmingham. He served as Alabama Supreme Court Justice James Gorman Houston Jr.'s senior staff attorney for 15 years. In 2000, he was elected to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. In 2007, he was appointed chief judge of the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. He served in both positions until January 20, 2009, when he became a justice on the state supreme court.
