Shira M. Diner

Biography

Shira Diner is a Lecturer and Clinical Instructor in the Defender Clinic at Boston University School of Law. Prior to her work at BU, she was the Director of Associate Development and Recruitment at Todd & Weld LLP. Previously, she served as a public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) for 17 years, and most recently, she worked as the supervising attorney in the Criminal Defense Training Unit, where she helped coordinate and provide training for CPCS staff attorneys and bar advocates. In addition to her training work, she was also active on criminal justice topics such as bail and sentencing in both the legislature and the courts. Ms. Diner also worked as a CPCS staff attorney in the Barnstable and then the Boston Superior Court Offices. Prior to her work at CPCS she completed a clerkship with the Massachusetts Superior Court.

In 2016, she was appointed by Governor Charlie Baker to the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission and reappointed by Governor Maura Healy. She is a member of the Massachusetts Legislature’s Bail Reform Special Commission.

She serves on the board of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is the organization’s immediate past president. She also serves on the board of the Suffolk Lawyers for Justice, the Massachusetts Bail Fund, the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and the Boston Bar Journal.

Prior to her time at BU Law, she served as an adjunct clinical professor of law at Suffolk University Law School, having created and run the school’s Innocence Clinic. Ms. Diner is a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College and Northeastern University School of Law and frequently comments in the media on topics regarding issues in the criminal legal system. She was the 2025 Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly “Lawyer of the Year” for her work on the Massachusetts appointed counsel crisis.