He started a nationally syndicated column when he was 17 and had written two books by age 21. Shapiro became interested in politics at a young age. Career This article is part of a series on As of March 2012, he ran an independent legal consultancy firm, Benjamin Shapiro Legal Consulting, in Los Angeles. He then worked at the law offices of Goodwin Procter. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004 summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, at age 20, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, and then from Harvard Law School in 2007 cum laude. Skipping two grades (third and ninth), Shapiro went from Walter Reed Middle School in The Valley to Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles in Westside, Los Angeles, where he graduated in 2000 at age 16. His mother was an executive of a TV company, and his father worked as a composer. He started playing violin at a young age, and performed at the Israel Bonds Banquet in 1996 at twelve years of age. When he was 9 years old, his family transitioned to Orthodox Judaism.

Shapiro was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Conservative Jewish family of Russian-Jewish and Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry.