2L Maryam Mahboob was recently awarded the Real Property Law Student Scholarship from the Ohio State Bar Association’s Real Property Law Section, a $2,500 award that comes with a representative seat on the Real Property Law Section Council. In this role, award recipients have the opportunity to work with the Council to address issues related to real property law, to draft and review legislative changes, to plan and present seminars and to assist with publications.
“Through my participation on the Council, I hope to learn more about people's real property concerns,” remarked Mahboob. “The opportunity to hear from attorneys who work directly with the legislature to resolve some of those concerns will be rewarding and enriching, and hopefully give me a better sense of real property practice.”
The scholarship process involved writing a letter addressing an issue in real property law in Ohio as well as submitting a recommendation letter. Mahboob wrote about low income housing and how she expects that market to grow after the Biden administration's housing supply plan was announced last year.
“I want to get involved in this space in some capacity. Housing is a basic human dignity,” she says.
Mahboob, who spent the first few years of her life in Cleveland, chose to attend Case Western Reserve University for law school in part because she considers Cleveland to be her home, having lived here as a young child.
“I've been impressed with the faculty and level of instruction at Case. I had a great lineup of 1L professors and was particularly impressed with Professor Salerno, who teaches LLEAP 3 Transactions, he’s the mensch,” she says.
During the fall of 2021, Mahboob and her friends also started the law school’s first Muslim Law Students Association, the first club of its kind in the law school's 130+ year history. “The law school has a lot of LLM students from the Khaleej, where I lived for sometime when away from Cleveland, and our events are one of the only spaces outside the classroom where I see LLMs get together with the rest of the student body. We recently wrapped up our second annual Iftar.”
On top of her coursework and part-time job for a legal software company, Mahboob was recently tapped for a research opportunity regarding Medicaid property liens across states. Despite a long list of responsibilities and obligations, she strives for a balance in her life.
“Law school has been testing in many ways. Beyond academics, it's put a strain on almost every area of my life. But we pull through, usually,” she jokes. “I try to do something nice for myself everyday, or at least the days I remember. I think that's what makes an enriched life worth living, really being grounded and present, catching myself and doing the things I like, all on my way to the next thing.”