Richard Shapiro, Attorney

I have been using the services of Richard Shapiro Attorney at Law Law Office for tax appeals for several properties both commercial and residential for 25 years plus. Their service is the best, their staff extremely knowledgable. They always return calls and follow up with any paperwork detail needed for successful appeals. I have been informed that Shapiro’s appeals are so complete and well documented, they are rarely refuted. I did hire an alternative firm years ago with extremely dissatisfying results with appeals that were rejected or with minimal adjustments. I returned to Shapiro and never left. I highly recommend this law office.

I have been going to them for years and I will keep going back! They handle all of my properties.

Mr. Shapiro consistently saves me money. Sure, the government keeps raising me taxes, but that’s no fault of his. If I hadn’t used Mr. Shapiro and his team, I can’t imagine what I’d be paying now! I would like the process to go faster than it does, and to at least get an updated now and then, but in the end he saves me money, and for that I’m grateful.

Shapiro might get results, but his operation is questionable and murky. When I first retained them, I asked whether I could get copies of the paperwork that they filed on my behalf. They said No. I told them that I wanted copies of the paperwork when filed. They said, «Call us in about six months and we’ll see what we have.» Lawyers are bound to give their clients all documents filed or sent on the clients’ behalf. The fact that Shapiro doesn’t want to do this is very odd. And when you try to actually reach Shapiro himself, it proves to be impossible. Honestly, I get the impression that Shapiro isn’t really doing any of the work — that he gets rich off the appeal mill where the work is done by others. And his fees are a lot higher than his competitors, on work that doesn’t really take a lot of skill. The shady operation and the exorbitant fees made me hire another firm.

I would like more proactive communication when an appeal runs long as mine seemed to this year. I submitted my request in February of 2015, and I think due to a county increase, it took a bit longer to get a conclusion. I reached out at about 6 months and then at 12 months for status. However I will say that when I do call, the individual I speak to always offers a thorough and informed update. And most importantly, Richard Shapiro delivered great results!

A colleague turned me on to Richard’s services back in the mid 90’s and I have been using his office since. My wife and I have 4 properties and we have saved easily more than $ 20K over the years. In 2015 we hired his office to do our group condo tax appeal for all 20 condo owners. Tracy does the group condo appeals and she handled it expertly. In the end each condo owner was able to knock $ 825 off their annual property taxes to everyone’s joy and amazement. Don’t get me wrong, this taxation/​appeal process is a total racket. But I found out the hard way after attending DIY classes and going my own way that you will not win anything appealing your own taxes from Cook County. And it’s an enormous pain in the ass. To the reviewer who crossed off the up-​front $ 50 fee, I must say your review is unfair and not realistic. $ 50 gets the ball rolling. The fees are very reasonable: half of the savings for the 1^st year, you keep ALL the savings every year after.

I own three properties and employed Richard Shapiro for all three. Their initial contract includes $ 50 of «processing fees». I crossed this language out and returned their contract to them. They performed their services and I paid them their 50% of the tax savings as the terms outlined.
But now I come to find out that they have turned me over to a collection agency for the $ 50 fee! Their law firm does not abide by their own contract!
I have now begun using another firm located at 111 West Washington and they are performing just as well less the additional fee and HEADACHE of fighting a collection agency.
Many of these types of law firms exist. I recommend choosing one other than Richard Shapiro.

BEWARE RICHARD SHAPIRO IS A CROOK.
Richard failed to get property taxes reduced to accessed fair market value with appraisal and still wants to be paid over $ 1500.00.
I appealed the property tax on my own the year before and the taxes were adjusted, by my own protest to the cook county assessor.
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR DON’T USE RICHARD SHAPIRO’S SERVICE AND THE EXTORTION TACTICS HE WILL USE TO GET YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY FROM YOU.

I’ve been using Shapiro to successfully appeal my four properties in Cook County for over twenty years and with great success and minimal hassle for me. Shapiro’s staff are courteous and efficient and the paperwork they send you is well organized and clear. His fees seem reasonable, usually about ¹⁄₆^th of the total tax saving over three years.
Shapiro’s web site is interesting and worth reading though is a bit quirky and seems to be homemade. But it’s good.
Shapiro himself is somewhat of an enigma. Though I’ve requested many times, I’ve never been able to talk to him, but his paralegal staff is always terrific and answers all my questions. Just don’t ask for Shapiro.
I’ve referred Shapiro to many friends and relatives and they also have been using him for years, for residential and commercial properties.
Will I continue to use Attorney Shapiro? YES!

I recently used Richard Shapiro to contest my property taxes and they did an amazing job and saving me money on my property taxes. They have a polished service where I called them up, they paired me with a representative on their team and they walked me through the entire process. In 2014 their payment structure was a small deposit ($ 50 at the time) and 50% of the first years winnings. In total I had to pay out around $ 370 which is a fair price when dealing with any law firm.
They did a great job looking at how my home was assessed and realized that the assessor was counting my attic space as livable square footage when it isn’t since it’s covered in 12″ of blow in insulation. I filled out a few forms, got it notarized and they took over from there. A few months later, I got a letter in the mail stating that my assessment was lowered and that I’d see a tax savings. I was more than happy to send them a check for their services.
Next time, when I feel my property taxes are increasing more than they should, I’ll definitely come back to Richard Shapiro and his team to help me make sure I“m paying my fair amount.