There are many Ambulance Chasers (and plenty of Lawbots in general) that are sticklers for the rules and Shirley is no exception to this. She'll chase down any jaywalker and try to pummel any meddlesome Toon or Cog. She's also a very crass, rude, and temperamental Cog, often berating her co-workers. She's also argumentative and mean-spirited, maybe more than any Lawbot would like for her to be. She's so unpleasant to work with that not even the toughest of Big Wigs won't want to deal with her. Since many higher-tier Lawbots find her unpleasant to work with, Shirly's stuck dealing with newly built Cogs and lower-tier Cogs.

Her prickly personality rears its ugly head as a mentor to low tier/newly built Cogs, having little to no patience and lashing out at them. This obviously garners resentment and fear from her trainees. Even outside of training Cogs, she has a nasty habit of insulting others under the guise of "telling it like it is", she's even reduced other Cogs to tears with her venomous words. 

Underneath all those wires, programming, and surliness, lies a deeply fearful, doubtful, and insecure Lawbot. In truth, Shirley has little to no faith in herself or anyone. Being old for an Ambulance Chaser has given her time to develop uncoglike feelings like sympathy and guilt. This has also given her a desire to find meaning beyond her intended purpose as a Cog, making her curious about Toons all while harboring a hardwired negative bias towards Toons. Deep down she cares about the small number of friends she has and is afraid of being alone.