Saul Schapiro earned a BA at City College of New York and a JD at Harvard Law School. He practiced in his own small firm for 37 years from 1972 -2009. In its last incarnation of 15 years, it was known as Rosenberg and Schapiro.

Saul’s practice involved civil and criminal litigation and transactional work, with a focus on real estate. He served as the field supervisor for the Harvard Voluntary Defenders for 7 years. He also had an extensive practice representing private schools for autistic and schizophrenic children who contracted with public school districts to educate this population. 

Saul started his practice by representing tenant unions and associations and later, for more than two decades, served as the chief outside litigation counsel for the Boston Redevelopment Authority focusing on, among other topics, the preservation of affordable rental housing created with “urban renewal” powers (a form of governmental subsidies popular from the 1950’s to the 1970’s). These units were the subject of rapid condominium conversion and were being offered at market rates. Sauk worked with the BRA to implement a strategy to use its statutory authority to empower minorities and women in the development process (notably including implementation of the parcel-to-parcel linkage program).  

From 2009-2013, Saul was the general counsel of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, an SEC regulated multi-billion-dollar trust that invests union pension funds in creation of and preservation of affordable housing and health care facilities, encouraging development and creating union jobs.

In semi-retirement, along with continuing representation of a few selected clients, Saul has volunteered for KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), an organization that provides voluntary legal representation for non-documented minors, and has also taught courses at the BOLLI (Brandeis Osher Life Learning Institute). Saul’s courses focus on legal aspects of social issues. One such course was “Supreme Court Decisions at Inflection Points in American History,” another was “Race Relations in American History from the Perspective of the US Supreme Court”. 

As an Access to Justice Fellow, Saul is working in collaboration with BOLLI volunteers to explore issues concerning the changing status of women in American life; amass a database of books, articles and website resources related thereto; and make this research available to assist others in teaching about this crucial matter as well as to use it in litigation or political organization around this topic.