Conner L. Wasson - Brochure
 

Education

J.D. (with High Honors), Drake University, 2014

B.S. (Business Administration), Northern Illinois University, 2010

  

Practice Groups

  • Business Entities
  • Construction Law
  • Higher Education
  • Procurement/Contracting
  • Real Estate & Environmental

Overview

Conner enjoys working with clients in both the firm’s public and private law practice areas, with a focus on helping cities, counties, school districts, colleges and universities, private businesses, and individuals with real estate, construction, and environmental matters, as well as providing advice on issues ranging from board governance, contract drafting and negotiation, and business formation and acquisition.

Conner has extensive experience assisting the firm’s clients with buying, selling, leasing, and developing real property.  This work includes managing real estate purchases or sales from start to finish, including drafting and negotiating purchase agreements, providing advice on appropriate due diligence and title work, and handling the closing of complex transactions. Conner particularly enjoys the challenges presented by the acquisition or disposal of environmentally contaminated properties, where his real estate and environmental law experience intersect.

He has assisted the firm’s public sector clients with the acquisition, development, and construction of many significant public projects across the state, including new school buildings, new administrative buildings, and public recreation areas.  Having grown up in a small town, Conner understands the significance public buildings have in Iowa’s cities and towns and has assisted the firm’s clients in the creative reuse of old school and municipal buildings. He is also well versed in complex private sector real estate transactions, having represented commercial and residential landlords in the purchase and lease of multi-unit properties.

Conner also assists both public and private entities on issues of corporate formation, corporate acquisitions, and board governance.  He has experience in the formation of private limited liability companies and corporations, including the drafting and revisions of governing documents, as well as the acquisition of small or family-held businesses.  He has also worked extensively with the firm’s public sector clients on board governance issues, including compliance with Iowa’s open meetings and open records laws.

Conner has spent his entire legal career with Ahlers & Cooney, including having clerked with the firm while in law school. Conner currently serves as the firm’s Real Estate & Environmental Law Practice Group chair, Recruiting Committee Chair, and as an adjunct professor of legal writing at his alma mater, Drake University.

Bar Admissions

Iowa, 2014

Court Admissions

All Iowa Courts

Representative Projects

  • Representing buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants in commercial real estate transactions.
  • Drafting documents related to real estate transactions, including purchase agreements, leases, closing documents, options and exchanges.
  • Advising and representing industrial, municipal and educational institutions in compliance issues arising from both Iowa and federal environmental law.
  • Representing industrial, municipal and educational institutions in negotiation and/or appeal of water and land use permits, including construction permits, NPDES permits, and landfill permits.
  • Advising buyers and sellers of family-owned and closely-held businesses.

Memberships

American Bar Association

Environment, Energy & Resources Section

Iowa State Bar Association

Environmental & Natural Resources Law Section

Real Estate Section

Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation

Recognitions

Best Lawyers in America®, Ones to Watch (2022-2025)

  • Construction Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Real Estate Law

Order of the Coif

Drake Law School, Adjunct Faculty member, Legal Writing Program, recognized in Top 10 nationally

Iowa Supreme Court Scholar, 2013-2014

American Law Institute, Scholarship & Leadership Award (faculty awarded), 2014

Speaking/Presentations

Iowa Association of School Business Officials, Spring Conference, "Buying & Selling, Swapping & Disposing Properties Best Practices (Personal property and physical property)," April 2025

Iowa State Bar Association, Construction Law Section, Annual Seminar, "Iowa Code Chapter 26A, Construction Manager At Risk Projects," with Kristine Stone, May 2023

Iowa Association of School Business Officials, Virtual Fall Conference, "To Be or Not to Be... Knowing When Your Agreement Needs to Be 28E or a Different Type of Contract & What to Include," November 2020

Published Articles & Books

Exploring the Original Meaning of Article I Section 6 of the Iowa Constitution, 66 Drake Law Review 147, (co-authored with Justice Edward Mansfield), 2018

Iowa’s Animal Torture Law following State v. Meerdink: A Call For Clarity and Enforcement, 62 Drake Law Review 743, (co-authored with Danielle Shelton), 2014

Professional, Community and Civic Leadership

ISBA Real Estate Section, Iowa Title Standards Committee (2017 - present)

Adjunct Professor of Law, Drake Law School (2017 - present)

Drake Environmental & Sustainability Law Advisory Committee (2017 - present)

Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, Class of 2017-2018

Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Volunteer

  
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