Zack Shapiro is managing partner of Rains and head of policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute. He writes about using AI in a small law practice, with particular attention to the professional judgment and detailed instructions that shape the work.[1][2]
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Education
Links
Rains Bitcoin Policy Institute
X LinkedIn Managing Partner · Rains
Head of Policy · Bitcoin Policy Institute
Career
Shapiro leads the law practice at Rains. Earlier, he cofounded BZR and served as its general counsel, worked at Davis Polk & Wardwell and held federal clerkships in the Southern District of New York and the Second Circuit. He graduated from Williams College and Yale Law School. His Bitcoin Policy Institute work concerns the legal and regulatory setting for Bitcoin businesses.[1][2]
Contributions
In The Claude-Native Law Firm, Shapiro explains how he uses reusable instruction files for contract review, drafting and client communication. He also describes manipulating Word documents through their underlying XML and following interactions between proposed contract changes. These are accounts of his own practice, including his review responsibilities and preferences, rather than a measured comparison of legal products.[4]
Ideas
The Input Layer argues that better models still need a practitioner to specify the client’s goals, risk tolerance, negotiating context and desired output. Shapiro treats that specification as the result of the professional’s analysis. His essay distinguishes using AI to execute or challenge a developed position from accepting a polished answer without doing the underlying thinking.[3]
Tools, writing & talks
Writing, research & talks
Start here
The Input Layerx.comAn argument for making context, constraints and professional judgment explicit before asking AI to produce work.
Read this before adopting a prompt template: its examples show what a practitioner must decide first. It is accessible without coding experience, but the legal scenarios assume professional review of the resulting work.
Author[3]Original sourceA practitioner’s account of reusable instructions, contract analysis and document workflows in a boutique firm.
Author[4]