Meaghan Hassan ’22 is an Associate with Sahn Ward and concentrates her practice in land use planning, zoning, municipal and environmental law, and real estate. She represents both clients who are making land use applications and municipalities who receive those applications for real estate development projects.
Discovering Opportunities in Land Use Law
“I thought about going to law school while I was in high school,” she says. “I excelled in reading and writing, so I thought it would translate well in becoming a lawyer.” While in college, Hassan had a tour of Hofstra Law as part of one of her classes. “During the tour, the admissions office advised us to study anything that we had a passion for, other than political science and English. They explained that your chances of getting in are greater if you’re the only one with a different major.”
Hassan took that advice, and, after taking a geography course in her sophomore year that piqued her interests more than she expected, she focused her studies on urban geography. “The discipline is all about people, demographics, and the impact that location and the way a community is set up has on people’s behaviors and their futures. It is an under-studied and under-appreciated field.”
An introduction to land use course Hassan took in college informed her law school studies and ultimately, her career. “A lawyer spoke to the class about land use, urban development, and planning. It was an aha moment for me. Before that, I didn’t know land use law was an option to pursue in law school. I thought geography would be enjoyable to study and help me get into law school, but I didn’t realize it was a path that some lawyers specialize in. I thought I would go to law school and then figure out what I wanted to do,” says Hassan.
“I realized that I could continue to study this area in law school and have an impact on the way communities are formed. I realized this was a job; there are lawyers who have an expertise in urban planning and can impact communities from the legal side of things. That course narrowed down the direction I wanted to go in law school. I knew I wanted to focus my studies on land use law. It is a niche field of law. I took as many courses that would help me become a land use lawyer as Hofstra had to offer.”
Hofstra Law Activities
Hassan received a full scholarship to Hofstra Law. In her 1L year, her studies were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and remote learning in her 1L and 2L years made it hard to connect with students and professors. “But in my second year, I took a course with Professor Ostrow, and she mentioned that she wanted to bring back the Real Estate Law Association after the pandemic and asked me to be one of the students to help with that. Eight of us worked together for a semester to get the club up and running for 3L year when we got back to campus. We recruited 40 members within the first semester of coming back.”
“We organized an alumni panel in the fall and invited five alumni working in vastly different areas of real estate to speak to students and do a Q&A. We also did a panel on non-traditional jobs in real estate law. It is still a very active club on Hofstra’s campus. I was invited back to speak on an alumni panel recently, in December 2023. I liked showing students that there are different opportunities available after graduation.”
Hassan was also involved with the moot court board and participated in moot court competitions via Zoom in her 2L year. “It was a good way to connect with people during remote school and still be an active member of the Hofstra Law community, even though wasn’t on campus at all.” In her third year she participated as a judge for the program.
Gaining Experience Through Internships and Externships
In the summer of 2020, many internships disappeared as a result of the pandemic. “Students were going anywhere to try to get a job that offered legal experience,” Hassan says. She worked with a sole practitioner in Queens. “I was lucky because he was willing to have his interns come to work in person,” she says. “He took many types of cases; he did a lot of landlord-tenant, a little family law, and a little malpractice. I got exposure to a lot of different practice areas, and I got to see the business side of a law firm. I worked for him during breaks throughout the remainder of law school.”
In her 2L year, Hassan did an externship in Manhattan for a real estate firm in the landlord-tenant and coop/condo departments. “It was an opportunity to see what working in a real estate firm was like and helped me to narrow down what I wanted to do.”
The following year she worked at the Real Property Bureau of the Attorney General’s office working on cases with state-owned land and rights of way, condemnation proceedings for roads, bus stops and rights of way. “I really enjoyed that experience,” she says. “It was completely remote, but I had great supervisors who taught me a lot.” In her final semester at Hofstra Law, she worked in a pro bono clinic at Hofstra Law: the Low-Income Taxpayers Clinic. “I ran out of land use courses, so I started focusing on tax law to diversify my studies,” she says.
Finding Work in Land Use Law
During her job search Hassan asked Professor Ostrow for a letter of recommendation for an internship, and Professor Ostrow offered to send Hassan’s resume and the letter of recommendation to Sahn Ward, where she had a connection. Hassan was called for an interview with a co-managing member of the firm. “Michael Sahn interviewed me and offered me a full-time position after graduation,” Hassan says. “It was the right connection at the right time. I didn’t see many land use job opportunities posted. I was willing to take a job and do whatever I needed to do, but I was very fortunate to end up right where I wanted to be.”
Hassan’s work includes representing municipalities and reviewing land use applications and drafting documents for zoning boards of appeals and planning boards, or representing property owners before municipal boards in other jurisdictions, drafting memoranda of law about why a project meets the criteria for a special permit or variance, and helping applicants present their application to the board in the best light possible. Hassan also works with the firm’s litigation team on Article 78 proceedings, challenging or defending land use determinations of municipal boards.
“I am excited to be a part of the change that brings them to Nassau County, and hope to help change the mindset of some communities that look down on apartment buildings and rental properties.”
“I have begun working on projects that will seek to secure land use approvals for apartment buildings and mixed-use developments, which has been a goal of mine since graduating” she says. “I think multi-family dwellings and mixed-use buildings are needed to create a downtown and to attract young professionals. I am excited to be a part of the change that brings them to Nassau County, and hope to help change the mindset of some communities that look down on apartment buildings and rental properties. Eventually, I would like to be part of a local zoning board or planning board that can help shape my community on a more direct level.”
Hassan was recently recognized with the Long Island Business News “Emerging Leaders Under 30” award.
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