Alex and Lisa (Bacchiocchi) Shapiro

It’s been a decade since Valhalla, New York, native Alex Shapiro graduated from Western Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Science in Justice and Law Administration. Since then, the Westchester County resident has acquired his dream job as a prosecutor with the Westchester Country District Attorney’s Office, and he married his college sweetheart, Lisa Bacchiocchi, whom he met while at WCSU.

“Western’s Justice and Law Administration program drew me there,” Shapiro said. “I had applied to other colleges, but WCSU was the only one that had a program that combined criminal justice and business administration, and that was what I wanted. My goal was to be a police officer, but I wanted ultimately to be a chief or commissioner involved in law enforcement leadership, so the business administration aspect of the program, which included budgets and management, was a perfect fit for me.”

Once on campus, Shapiro became involved in the TKE fraternity, was a chief justice in the Student Government Association, and got involved with Habitat for Humanity and an American Heart Association fundraiser. He noticed an attractive female student pledging a sorority that frequently interacted with his fraternity, and they started to get to know one another. Despite the potential for distraction, his focus on becoming a police officer remained unwavering.

In his sophomore year, Shapiro took a criminal procedure class with Professor of Justice and Law Administration Terry Dwyer. “I asked a lot of questions during class,” Shapiro said. “Then, I’d follow up with Professor Dwyer after class with a whole list of additional questions. He would tell me, ‘I have no problem answering all of your questions, but these are law school-level questions. You would learn the answers to these kinds of questions in law school, so maybe it’s something you should consider.’ He was hands-down my favorite professor, for sure,” Shapiro added.

After graduating from WCSU in 2014 and still determined to become a police officer, Shapiro took the tests required to be a police officer, and started the requisite wait to hear back from all the departments to which he had applied. His then-girlfriend, Lisa, a WCSU Psychology major who would graduate in 2015, suggested that maybe he should consider law school while he was waiting to hear back from the police. So, Shapiro applied to various schools, ultimately enrolling at Pace University due to its proximity to his home in Valhalla.

Once there, Shapiro realized that he was on the same level and “definitely as prepared” as his peers from other “big name” universities. “WCSU did prepare me for law school very well, especially with writing,” he said. “My writing was definitely up there during my first year at law school.

“I think a lot of high school students when looking at colleges feel pressured that they need to go to the best school they’ve ever heard of,” Shapiro said. “A state school like WCSU can give you all the opportunities you need in life. The smaller class sizes, and professors who are current from working in the field, will set you up better than at any ‘top tier’ school,” he added. “My wife is an example of that, too. She graduated in 2015 with a Psychology degree, and now she’s a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Connecticut, where she is employed by a nonprofit that works to help people find jobs or continuing education. Both of us discovered our path at WCSU.”

Between his first and second year of law school, the New York State Police reached out because Shapiro had scored well on their test. “I already had a year of law school behind me and I started having that internal conversation with myself that maybe I was going to follow through on the path to become a lawyer,” he said. “Once I started taking criminal practice classes, I really fell in love with the law. The State Police deferred my application for a year, and when they called back, I told them my decision was to stick with the law and they wished me well.”

After completing law school with honors and passing the bar in 2019, Shapiro began his legal career in the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney. Shapiro explained that there are approximately 15,000 to 20,000 cases per year in the Bronx, with a few hundred  prosecutors to work on them. “I got more experience in my three years there, working cases that involved crimes like attempted murder, shootings, stabbings, and gang activities, than I would have in most other jurisdictions,” he said. In 2022, two years after marrying Lisa, Shapiro leveraged that experience to begin working with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. “The volume of cases in Westchester is considerably less,” Shapiro said. “I enjoy it there and love the work that I’m doing. I’m helping my community as someone who lives here. It’s a higher purpose because it’s my community as well.”

Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.