Pinal Shah

Pinal Shah is a Senior Associate at Redwood Public Law and provides advice and counsel to cities, counties, and special districts of all types throughout the state.

Pinal brings an uncommon breadth of experience to her municipal law practice, spanning public service at every level of government and nearly a decade of technology governance work in the private sector. During law school, she served in multiple federal roles, including Fourth Amendment analysis at the TSA's Office of Civil Rights, federal procurement work at TSA's Chief Counsel's office, and clerking at the Office of Management and Budget on high-profile FOIA matters. She then joined the Obama White House as an Associate in the Presidential Personnel Office, conducting vetting for domestic agency appointments.

Pinal subsequently served as a political appointee at the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate, advising senior leadership on national security technology policy and emerging technologies. In that role, she drafted congressional testimony, negotiated and drafted international agreements totaling $29 million across multiple partner nations, contributed to efforts to counter unmanned aircraft systems in national airspace, and evaluated technologies for SAFETY Act liability certification.

Following her government service, Pinal led trust, safety, and AI governance work at technology companies including Amazon Web Services, Robinhood, and Lyft, and most recently served as Senior Director at the Data & Trusted AI Alliance, developing responsible AI deployment and vendor assessment frameworks. This experience has sharpened her approach to the technology and governance questions increasingly facing public agencies.

Pinal is also a committed civic advocate with extensive voter protection experience across multiple election cycles. A Bay Area native, outside the office she can be found on the tennis court, cheering on the 49ers, or catching the latest in stand-up comedy.
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