Shanan earned her law degree from Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon, where she was Production Editor of the Willamette Law Review, a Trustee Merit Scholar, and member of the Inns of Court. While attending law school, she also served as clerk for a labor law arbitrator, focusing on labor contract disputes and employment disciplinary issues.

Shanan has over seventeen years experience with the focus of her practice on insurance defense, civil rights, public entity defense, and employment law in both state and federal courts. Her litigation expertise includes every phase of civil litigation from motion practice to trial and even through appellate review. Shanan has not only successfully obtained unanimous jury verdicts for her clients, but championed their positions on appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals .

Shanan is authorized to practice in all California state courts, and admitted to practice in the United States District Court for Eastern, Central and Northern Districts of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. She is a member of the California Lawyers Association Labor & Employment and Litigation Sections, the Sacramento County Bar Association, and Sacramento Women Lawyers. Shanan is also an integral part of her local community having received the Bank of America Local Hero Award for community.