Practice Areas: Land Use & Zoning, Real Estate, Appellate; view more
Licensed in Massachusetts since: 2008
Education: Suffolk University Law School
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2022 - 2024 
Selected to Rising Stars: 2015 - 2020 Details
Nicholas P. Shapiro is the President and a shareholder of Jeffrey T. Angley, P.C., the real estate litigation practice at Phillips & Angley. Nick joined the firm as an associate in May 2011. Nick's focus and practice areas are concentrated on zoning, land use, real estate, and telecommunications, counseling real estate developers, private landowners, neighbors and abutters, and institutional/corporate clients throughout Massachusetts. Nick appears predominantly before the Massachusetts Land Court - a trial court of specialized jurisdiction over zoning, land use and real estate disputes. However, in his time at Phillips & Angley, Nick has argued all manner of motions and appeals before every level of the Massachusetts judiciary, from the District Court to the Supreme Judicial Court. Nick has, in particular, argued numerous appeals before the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court during his tenure at Phillips & Angley.
Nick is presently the co-chair of the Massachusetts Real Estate Bar Association's Land Use and Zoning Section, and is the Clerk of the Board of Directors and sits on the Executive Committee of that organization. He is also co-chair of the Real Estate and Condemnation Committee of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Nick is also a member of the Abstract Club, which is a voluntary association of experienced lawyers who practice real estate law in MA, has been in existence for over 100 years, and is limited by its by-laws to 100 members. Nick has been quoted in the Boston Globe and Massachusetts Lawyer's Weekly concerning particular cases and land use issues. From 2015 to date, Nick has been awarded the distinction of being named a Super Lawyers Rising Star or Super Lawyer in New England for Land Use and Zoning, and was named to Boston Magazine's 2021 & 2022 Top Lawyers list. Nick was the recipient of the Real Estate Bar Association's Emerging Leader Award in 2017 and was named Most Valuable Editor for the ABA's Litigation Section for the 2020/2021 bar year.
Prior to joining the firm, Nick was law clerk to the Hon. Joseph A. Trainor, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and, prior to that clerkship, to the Hon. Harry M. Grossman, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Land Court. Nick received a J.D., cum laude, in 2008 from Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts where he was a member of Suffolk's Transnational Law Review.
Practice areas
Land Use/Zoning, Real Estate: Business, AppellateFocus areas
Condominiums & Cooperatives, Landlord/Tenant, Short Sale
- 40% Land Use/Zoning
- 50% Real Estate: Business
- 10% Appellate
First Admitted: 2008, Massachusetts
Professional Webpage: https://www.phillips-angley.com/Attorneys/Nicholas-P-Shapiro...
- Real Estate Bar Association (MA), Member of the Board of Directors – 2017-Present, 2022
- Bar of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 2022
- Fellow of the American Bar Foundation , 2022
- Real Estate Bar Association (MA), Clerk & Member of Executive Committee, 2022
- Bar of the U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, 2014 to Present, 2022
- American Bar Association, Member, 2014 - Present, 2022
- Bar of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2008 to Present, 2022
- American Bar Association, Co-Chair of the Real Estate Condemnation and Trusts Committee of the Litigation Section , 2022
- Successfully argued motion to dismiss and obtained dismissal of Chapter 40A, Section 17 appeal of special permits to convert an existing hotel into a mixed-use development, in Superior Court, owing to the plaintiff’s lack of standing.
- Successfully argued motion for summary judgment and procuring dismissal of action to perfect mechanic’s lien against client’s property, in the District Court.
- Successfully argued against an application to expand a preexisting, nonconforming structure and convert a single-family residence into two single-family residential units before local zoning board, on behalf of abutter client.
- Successfully argued appeal before the Massachusetts Appeals Court in Clemmey v. Great Woods, Inc., 13-P-1817
- Successfully argued motion for summary judgment/for judgment on the pleadings, defending developer/client’s ANR endorsement for subdivision that violated condition/covenant granted in connection with underlying definitive plan approval, against abutter appeal in the Land Court.
- Successfully made closing arguments in trial through which access rights over paper way bisecting clients’ lawn were extinguished by abandonment, in the Land Court.
- Successfully defended against motion for real estate attachment, based on the Massachusetts homestead law and a resulting trust theory, in the Superior Court.
- Successfully argued motion for summary judgment before the Plymouth District Court in Elite Metal Framing & Construction, Inc. v. Industrial Communications, LLC, 1559CV000138
- Successfully argued motion for summary judgment, clearing title to client’s property of putative easement rights over cart paths extending over clients property, and having the Court declare that client’s property was not subject to restrictive covenant applicable to adjacent subdivision.
- Successfully argued opposition to motion for judicial endorsement of a memorandum of lis pendens in an abutter appeal of ANR endorsement, in the Land Court.
- Successfully negotiated a six-figure settlement of an abutter zoning appeal in Boston, in the Housing Court.
- Successfully argued motion for summary judgment before the Massachusetts Land Court in Roma III, LTD. v. Board of Appeals of Rockport, 15 MISC 000074 (RBF), decision reported at 24 LCR 649 (2016)
- Jurisprudence Award for Antitrusts, Suffolk University Law School, 2007
- Dean's List, Suffolk University Law School
- Super Lawyers, Rising Star, New England, Land Use/Zoning, 2015-2018
- Emerging Leader Award, Real State Bar Association (MA), 2017
- Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, B.A. in English & Philosophy, Dean's List, 2002
- Taylor v. Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission: Old Habits Die Hard, ABA Real Estate Litigation and Condemnation Committee Journal, February 2, 2017
- ‘Taylor’ Showcases Need to Jettison Doctrine of Overloading, REBAnews, the Newspaper of the Real Estate Bar Association, March, 2016
- Preparing for Your First Appellate Oral Argument: A Practical Primer, Article, ABA Real Estate Litigation and Condemnation Committee Journal, Fall, 2014
- MA Expands Decision Allowing Unilateral Reduction of Easement Area by Servient Estate, News and Development, ABA Real Estate Litigation and Condemnation Committee Journal, March 17, 2014
- More Flexible Easement Relocations Post-M.P.M. Builders Case, Article, ABA Real Estate Litigation and Condemnation Committee Journal, Winter, 2014
- Permanent Mission of India v. City of New York, Suffolk Transnat'l L. Rev., Summer, 2008
- Bayview Irrigation Dist. v. United Mexican States , Suffolk Transnat'l L. Rev, Winter, 2009
- Businesses
- Private Property Owners
- Real Estate Developers
- Telecommunications
Office location for Nicholas P. Shapiro
One Washington Mall
Suite 7A
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: 866-675-2109
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2022 - 2024
- Rising Stars: 2015 - 2020
