Hyland Levin Shapiro LLP is pleased to announce that senior associate Megan Knowlton Balne is the 2019 recipient of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Professional Achievement Award. The Award honors a young lawyer who has achieved significant professional accomplishments during the past year.

According to the NJSBA, “Megan is an example of the type of lawyer all young lawyers should strive to be. She is courteous, kind, involved with her community, and not afraid to blaze new trails in the legal world. This year, she obtained a $3,000,000 verdict at trial, and started a new employment practice group at her firm. Megan is dedicated to maintaining the professionalism of the bar, and was appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to serve on the District IIIB Ethics Committee this year. She also serves as a Trustee of the Burlington County Bar Association, and is a founding member of the New Jersey Law Journal’s Young Lawyers Advisory Board. All three of these roles allow Megan to provide a young lawyer’s perspective to the broader legal community, and mentor newer lawyers than herself.”

“Outside of the office, Megan uses her legal skills to benefit her community. She recently joined the Board of Maternity Care Coalition, a non-profit organization devoted to serving families in need with children ages 0-3 in Philadelphia area. For many years, she has served on the Board of the Haddonfield Plays and Players, a non-profit community theater. She volunteers many nights and weekends to running the theater's educational programs and providing arts education to children ages 4-15. Aside from her board membership role, she has received rave reviews as both a director and a performer in numerous plays. This year she is also organizing a gala to recognize the theater's commitment to Holocaust Awareness.”

Megan is a member of the Burlington County, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. A graduate of Ramapo College (B.A., summa cum laude, 2007), Megan received her law degree from Rutgers University School of Law-Camden (J.D., magna cum laude, 2010).

Hyland Levin Shapiro LLP attorneys have decades of experience in the region. The firm's practice areas include business and transactions, real estate, environmental law, zoning and land use, franchise and licensing, food and beverage law, general and commercial litigation, community associations, employment, business planning and tax, trusts and estates, leasing, eminent domain and real property taxation. Established in 2009, Hyland Levin Shapiro was founded on the principle of lawyers getting back to doing what they do best, practicing law. Most of its attorneys have worked for larger firms, and its clients include some of the area's most substantial businesses and institutions.