Hagan, Coury & Associates

Focus and practice areas

Three bodies of law run through this Brooklyn firm, and they share a business core. On the commercial side, the work covers business and commercial litigation, contract disputes, business dissolutions, and partnership and shareholder disputes. Insurance litigation sits in the same group, next to commercial transactions, business entity formation, and the drafting of contracts. The firm also handles employment law disputes. Taken together, this is the practice of a firm that advises companies and then represents them when a deal turns into a fight.

Real estate is the second area, and it reaches landlords and the companies that manage their buildings. The listed work includes commercial and residential landlord and tenant law, commercial leasing litigation, and co-operative and condominium law. Construction belongs here too: construction contracts and litigation, construction development, and mechanic's liens. Property disputes and business disputes often share the same facts, so keeping both under one roof has a plain logic to it.

The third area is narrower and less common for a firm of this size. It covers federal regulations that affect the airline industry, corporate visas, and federal litigation and administrative proceedings. The firm lists compliance work and proceedings before the Canadian and U.K. governments. Appellate representation in New York rounds out what the site names. In my opinion, the aviation work is the most distinctive part of what the firm lists.

How the firm began and grew

The firm dates to 1981, when Samuel L. Hagan founded it as a real estate attorney. Business and commercial litigation came later, after William J. Coury joined as a named partner in the 1980s. The pairing reads naturally: a real estate founder and a litigator as named partner, each bringing one of the firm's two main lines. A practice that starts in property and later takes on commercial disputes tends to keep clients through more than one kind of problem, which may explain the long tenure the site describes. The site states the firm has grown to six attorneys and counts more than 35 years in the Brooklyn business community.

The attorneys the firm names

Four attorneys appear by name across the firm's pages. William J. Coury is the partner with the fullest profile. He was admitted in New York in 1986 and, in the same year, to the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. Those two federal admissions matter for the litigation side, since they let him appear in the trial courts that hear Brooklyn and Manhattan business cases. He earned his J.D. at Brooklyn Law School in 1986 and a B.S. at New York University in 1982.

Coury's practice covers commercial and real estate litigation, commercial landlord and tenant matters, commercial lease transactions, and co-op and condo law.That mix places him at the meeting point of two major areas of the firm's practice. He also taught real estate for the Brooklyn Bar in 1996, which points to a working knowledge of the subject beyond his own case files.

Samuel L. Hagan founded the firm and is described as a real estate attorney. Jonathan A. Fuchs has been with the firm since its inception and is general counsel of Icelandair North America, a role that overlaps with the aviation work the site lists. Christina Hagan is also named on the roster. The four names together give the firm a settled, long-tenured look at its senior level.

How these matters generally proceed

Commercial litigation over a contract or a partnership usually starts with a demand and pleadings, then discovery of documents and testimony, and often a push toward settlement before any trial date. Business dissolutions and shareholder disputes tend to turn on the company's own records and its governing agreements. Insurance litigation adds another layer, since the policy language often decides who pays before the underlying facts get argued. Employment disputes, also on the firm's list, run on statutory deadlines and often reach state or federal agencies before a court sees them.

Real estate matters follow their own tracks. Landlord and tenant cases in New York run through housing and commercial parts of the courts, with strict notice rules that set the timing. A mechanic's lien has to be filed within a fixed window and then either enforced or discharged, so dates matter from the first day. Co-op and condominium questions often reach back to the building's offering plan and its bylaws. Construction disputes can pull in owners, contractors and subcontractors at once, which is part of why they take time.

Aviation regulation runs largely through federal agencies, and the firm also names proceedings before the Canadian and U.K. governments. Corporate visa work ties to federal immigration rules and filing schedules. As a reviewer, I read the firm's aviation list as a sign of long practice in a field that rewards familiarity with agency procedure. Appellate work, also on the list, is its own craft, built on the trial record and written briefs.

Clients and access

The companies the firm represents are large and small privately owned businesses in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the surrounding parts of New York City. That client base fits the business and real estate work at the center of the practice. The firm offers free initial consultations. It also lists Japanese and Russian language services on request.

The Brooklyn office and contact details

The listing ties the firm to a precise street address at 908 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. The formal legal name and the name used in the directory are identical: Hagan, Coury & Associates. That consistency gives clients a clear way to match the office, the directory entry and any correspondence they receive. It also helps distinguish the practice from firms with similar surnames or abbreviated names.

Two telephone numbers are associated with the office: 718-777-5985 and 718-788-5052. The website is nyclitigationlawyers.com, a domain that plainly connects the firm's online identity with litigation in New York City. Together, the street address, phone contacts and website provide several points for verifying that a caller has reached the correct firm. Since the record assigns no separate function to either telephone number, a prospective client can keep both available when trying to make contact.

What to clarify at first contact

The attorney information varies in detail, which makes assignment an important subject for an initial conversation. William J. Coury is the only lawyer in the supplied record with the express title of partner. His entry also supplies admission information and a defined practice history. The other named lawyers have shorter entries. A prospective client can therefore ask who will have primary responsibility for the matter, which attorney will handle routine communication and whether another lawyer will appear at conferences or hearings.

The same conversation can establish whether the office wants contracts, leases, company records or court papers before an appointment. The appropriate documents will depend on the type of dispute, but dates and signed agreements are likely to help the firm identify the issue described by the caller. Clients with a pending case can also provide the court name, case number and next scheduled date. Those details allow the office to check the matter against its stated work and determine which lawyer should review it. Before sending confidential records, the client should confirm the firm's preferred delivery method and the intended recipient by telephone.