Yaniv graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a student attorney with the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and an Articles Editor for the American Criminal Law Review. During law school, he interned for the Clark County Public Defender Service, the Bronx Defenders, the ACLU National Prison Project, and the Public Defender Service of Washington, DC. Before joining Appellate Advocates, Yaniv worked as a trial attorney at the Bronx Defenders.
Yaniv also holds a B.A. in Political Studies and Music from Bard College.