Melanie Shapiro
Top rated Immigration attorney in Norwood, Massachusetts
Law Office of Melanie Shapiro, LLC
Practice Areas: Immigration, Criminal Defense, Real Estate; view more
Licensed in Massachusetts since: 2012
Education: Roger Williams University School of Law
Languages Spoken: English, Spanish
Selected to Rising Stars: 2018 - 2024 Call today:
781-222-4906
Law Office of Melanie Shapiro, LLC
60 Guild StSte. 2
Norwood, MA 02062 Visit website
Details
In just over a decade, Melanie Shapiro has earned a reputation for upholding top-quality standards in her legal representation, never faltering in the face of adversity and always willing to help her clients achieve their goals expeditiously and in an amicable manner. The owner of the Law Office of Melanie Shapiro, LLC., in Norwood, Massachusetts, she serves residents of the surrounding region and the Boston metropolitan area in pressing immigration law matters such as asylum, VAWA, and U and T visas, family-based immigration, naturalization, employment-based immigration, removal defense and special immigrant juvenile status.
Well-equipped to handle criminal law and real estate matters as well, Ms. Shapiro has made a positive impact on her clients’ lives, helping them actuate their American dreams and provide a better life to their families. For her many contributions, she holds a perfect “10.0” rating on Avvo and hosts a plethora of positive client testimonials on the site as well, and moreover, she has been recognized as a Top Woman in Law by Lawyers Weekly.
Ms. Shapiro graduated summa cum laude with her bachelor’s degree in 2009 from the University of Rhode Island, where she also was a writer for the Women’s Studies newsletter and was part of the Honors Program. She went on to attend the Roger Williams University School of Law and received her Juris Doctor in immigration law in 2012. During her time in law school, she was awarded the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for her work in the immigration clinic and academic prowess in the studies of genocide and atrocity crimes.
After obtaining her license to practice law in Massachusetts the same year she graduated from law school, Ms. Shapiro has garnered the adulation of her peers for promoting a pristine, client-centric practice that emphasizes personalized attention, dedication and meticulous focus, and attention to detail, combined with an enthusiasm to see her clients move on to better opportunities in their futures. She is a member of the Women’s Bar Association and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (co-chair of the New England Litigation Committee) and Citizens Against Trafficking (co-founder), among others.
Practice areas
Immigration: Consumer, Criminal Defense, Real Estate: BusinessFocus areas
Arrest & Arraignment, Assault & Battery, Asylum, Condominiums & Cooperatives, Criminal Domestic Violence, Criminal Fraud, Criminal Law, Debt, Drug & Alcohol Violations, Expungement, Failure to Pay Child Support, False Accusations, Felony, Juvenile Delinquency, Landlord/Tenant, Misdemeanor, Mortgage & Refinance, Motor Vehicle Offenses, Murder, Naturalization & Citizenship, Overdrawn Bank Account, Parole, Probation, Prosecution, Sex Offenses, Short Sale, Tax Evasion, Theft, Traffic Violations
- 80% Immigration: Consumer
- 10% Criminal Defense
- 10% Real Estate: Business
First Admitted: 2012, Massachusetts
Professional Webpage: https://melanieshapiroesq.com/our-attorneys/
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, New England Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
- Founder, Seeking Security and Freedom, 2022
- Founder, Citizens Against Trafficking, 2009
- Former Board member of the Dedham Art Associate
- Co-chair, American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) New England Litigation Committee
- United States Courts of Appeals for the First and Fifth Circuits
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, Member
- Immigration Court
- Board of Immigration Appeals
- Massachusetts
- Federal District Court of Massachusetts
- Human Rights Campaign, Member
- Irish International Immigrant Center-- Haitian TPS clinic, 2016
- Boston Mayor's Office on Immigrant Advancement volunteer consultations, 2017
- LGBT Asylum Task Force Pro bono representation, 2015
- Public Interest Scholar, Roger Williams University School of Law
- Academic Excellence Award, 2009
- Mother Jones Award, 2009
- A. Robert Rainville Leadership Award, 2009
- Top Women of Law, Lawyers Weekly, 2022
- Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2018-2023
- CALI excellence achievement award, Immigration Clinic, Roger Williams University School of Law
- Pro Bono Star, American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2015
- University of Rhode Island, Bachelor’s Degree in Women’s Studies, summa cum laude, with honors, President's Award for Academic Excellence, Mother Jones Award, Robert A. Rainville Leadership Award, 2009
- Pursuing one-parent SIJS cases, Author, Navigating One-Parent SIJS Cases, AILA VOICE, Immigration, 2015
- Mentor and partner with the Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice and The Education Cooperative
- Adjunct Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law
- Donna M. Hughes, Ph.D. and Melanie Shapiro, Esq., Challenges for Investigating Sex Trafficking: The Role of Decriminalized Prostitution, 7th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking, U. of Nebraska Lincoln, 2015
- Rhode Island Bar Association, “U Visa CLE,” 2019
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, New England Conference, “Public Charge Roundtable,” 2020
- Boston Bar Association, “Best Practices and Avoiding Pitfalls at the Boston Asylum Office,” 2020
- John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Lecturer on Immigration, 2020
- Ugandan North America Association, Panel on Immigration, 2020
- Essex County Commission on the Status of Women, “Tapping Legal Resources for Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence,” 2020
- Roger Williams University School of Law: “Immigration Practice in the Time of COVID-19,” 2020
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, “Alternative Forms of Relief Including T, U, and VAWA,” 2022
- American Immigration Lawyers Association Roundtable: Humanitarian Parole, 2022
- American Immigration Lawyers Association New England Conference, “All Thing Humanitarian: Nuggets and Pitfalls in Asylum, VAWA, T, and U Visa Relief, 2023
- From 1980 to 2009, prostitution in Rhode Island was decriminalized.1 Prostitution was not prohibited or regulated by law if it was performed indoors.2 The lack of laws or regulations created a unique and permissive legal, economic, and cultural environment for the growth of sex businesses.3 Although a few counties in Nevada have legalized prostitution,4 no other state or county has decriminalized prostitution in recent decades.5 During the twenty-nine-year period from 1980 to 2009, sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls were integrated into the economic development of Rhode Island’s urban areas.6 The growth of sex businesses led to the capital city of Providence being called the “red-light district” of New England.7 The lack of laws controlling prostitution impeded police from investigating and stopping serious crimes and prevented officials from arresting pimps, traffickers, and sex buyers.8 According to Luis CdeBaca, former Ambassador at Large to Combat Human Trafficking and Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in the U.S. State Department, decriminalized prostitution created a “zone of impunity in which police [could not] go, and where traffickers [could] exploit their prey.”9 This Article describes the growth of sex businesses in Rhode Island from 1980 to 2009 and the harmful activities—particularly violence against women, sexual exploitation, and slavery—that were endemic to it. It describes how individual criminals, organized crime groups, and mainstream business people, such as landlords and lawyers, exploited women and girls for profit and pleasure. For over a decade, from 1998 to 2009, the violent nature of these businesses became increasingly known to law enforcement, other government officials, and the public.10 With increased awareness, momentum grew for legal reform to prohibit prostitution, sex trafficking, and the employment of underage teens in sex businesses.11 In 2009, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed three unprecedented laws to end these practices.12 This Article on decriminalized prostitution is important for contemporary debate. Around the world, there are both small groups and large agencies, such as UN Women13 and Amnesty International, that advocate for the decriminalization of prostitution.14 One such group is suing the state of California to decriminalize prostitution using the same legal argument and strategy that created decriminalized prostitution in Rhode Island in 1980.15 The authors of this Article believe the findings reported herein on Rhode Island’s twenty-nine-year experience with decriminalization are an important contribution to the debate, Author, Decriminalized Prostitution: Impunity for Violence and Exploitation, Wake Forest Law Review, 2017
Selections
- Rising Stars: 2018 - 2024
