The Honorable Vijay Shanker was appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in December 2022 by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. from 2005 to 2022, Judge Shanker served in various capacities in the United States Department of Justice. From 2005 to 2012 he was an attorney in the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division. From 2012 to 2014 he served in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, including as Counselor and Acting Deputy Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General. Judge Shanker returned to the Appellate Section as Deputy Chief in 2014, serving in that role until 2019, when he began a detail as Senior Litigation Counsel in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. He then returned to the Criminal Division's
Appellate Section as Deputy Chief until he joined the court. Earlier in his career, Judge Shanker was an associate at Mayer Brown from 2004 to 2005 and at Covington & Burling from 1999 to 2000 and 2001 to 2004. He served as a law clerk for Judge Chester J. Straub on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2000 to 2001.

Judge Shanker received his J.D., Order of the Coif, from the University of Virginia School of Lawin 1999 and his B.A., cum laude, from Duke University in 1994. At Virginia, he won the Roger & Madeleine Traynor Prize and the Law School Alumni Association Best Note Award. Judge Shanker has been awarded the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement for the Handling of Appeals, the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, and the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, as well as the South Asian Bar Association of DC Public Sector Trailblazer Award and the University of Virginia School of Law Shaping Justice Award for Prosecution. He previously served as Vice President of the Board of Directors of Calvary Women’s Services.

Judge Shanker is also a musician and was the drummer in a nationally touring indie rock band in the early 2000s.