Love & Brooklyn Law: Meet Alumni Who Met at Brooklyn Law

“Victor and I met our 2L year in October 2013. My Evidence class ended early, I went to the dining hall to eat and study, and while I momentarily stepped away, Victor sat at the table directly next to mine, even though there was a room full of unoccupied tables. As I approached the table to grab my things and move, Victor, to my dismay, introduced himself as the ‘guy with the blue BMW at the parking garage,’ and the rest is history. After nine years together, we married on November 6, 2022, in the borough where our love started: Brooklyn, N.Y.”

“Corey who was a Westlaw rep. as a 2L, gave a presentation to the new class of 1L evening students in the fall of 2011. As Corey explained how to search using Boolean terms, Nicholas was busy drafting the message that he would send to Corey later that week. Corey and Nicholas had their first date at Clover Club on Smith Street, and the rest was history! They were engaged in London the day after Christmas in 2014 and married in Manhattan in March 2016.”

“My husband and I met and started dating during our first year at Brooklyn Law School, towards the end of the first semester. We had all our large sections together, but his giving me some McDonald’s gift certificates made me notice him—that was during Professor Maryellen Fullerton’s Civil Procedure class. We married in October 2005, had twins in September 2006, and another child in October 2009. We moved to Baltimore, where I grew up, in 2008. He is now a partner at Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, and I’m a judge in the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore City.”

“I met my husband during our 1L year in Professor Jayne Ressler’s Civil Procedure class. He sat behind me. We started dating in November 2017 and got engaged July 2019, which was the summer after our 2L year. We both graduated in 2020 while staying at my parents' house for a few months during the pandemic. We got married in November 2021 and now live in Jersey City with our two cats, Fiona and Angel.”

“We initially met on campus at a Black Law Students Association meeting and for a second time at an APALSA meeting. Our first date was ice skating at Rockefeller Center just before Christmas 2010. We both lived off campus and would walk over to Crumbs for a snack or grab a banh mi sandwich at Hanco’s before hopping on the train home. The Barristers’ Ball in 2011 was our first outing as a couple. We married in New Orleans on March 24, 2018, and celebrated Karl opening his own real estate law firm a few months after, followed by my numerous promotions at American Express. We purchased a house in 2021 and became a trio when Autumn, our first child, was born in November 2021.”

Romantic love is only one kind of love. In 2010, as a 1L at Cardozo Law School, I interned with a Justice of the state Supreme Court alongside Brooklyn Law School’s Evelyn D’Angelo ’13. After some initial squabbles about Manhattan vs. Brooklyn, we became inseparable best friends and I joined her vast BLS Friend Group, including Yekaterina Blinova ’13, Oje Aisiku ’14, and Faisal Alam ’12. We attended Barristers’ Balls, young alumni parties, and even a Reunions, for a school I never technically attended. More than a dozen years later, we remain inseparable. In 2014, I officially joined the BLS community as an adjunct professor. Working with BLS students is one of my greatest professional joys.”

“We met as classmates in the same section but remained just friends through Law School. About a year after our 1992 graduation, we went on our first date. Now married 26 years, with two children, Richard has a law practice centered on residential real estate in the Hudson Valley, while Joanne sits as a Judge in the City Court of Newburgh, N.Y. We remain very close with many of our BLS friends.”

Shari Gleit ’85 and Robert Nisenson ’84 began their story when Shari, a recent SUNY Albany grad, signed on as one of Robert’s roommates in a Cobble Hill brownstone. At that time, they were each dating different people. One fateful Saturday night in November, Shari returned to the shared apartment and was surprised to find Robert waiting up for her. He poured his heart out, telling her he thought they should start dating each other and forget all the others. Shari felt the connection, too, but wanted to still date others. As it turned out, she never did. Engaged nine months later, they married in 1984 and spent 30 living in New Brunswick, N.J. They have two children, twins Samantha and Paul, and now have three grandchildren and a fourth expected in April. Shari and Robert currently live in Monroe Township, NJ. Robert has his own law practice in East Brunswick. Shari, after many years of law practice and then as a director at a major law firm, is currently working as a talent acquisition specialist.

“I met my now husband while he was the managing editor and I was on the staff of the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial and Commercial Law (I was a 2L and he was a 3L). Funny enough, one of our first communications was him emailing me (quite sternly) that I forgot to finish an assignment that was due days earlier. We obviously got to know each other better and started dating months later. We just got married on April 30, 2022, at the Garden City Hotel on Long Island. He currently works at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in the securities litigation group, and I work at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in the corporate group.”

“We met as 1Ls in August 2013 – at Feil Hall on move-in day, and just so happened to be fifth-floor neighbors. Jack soon began pursuing me, and despite my resistance (I wanted to succeed as a first-year law student, after all!), we became quick companions. Over the next three years, we somehow found time in between studying (me), law journal (me), and internships (mostly me), for our relationship to blossom in storybook Brooklyn. After Law School, I joined a prominent Manhattan real estate firm, and Jack founded his own real estate and construction firm with fellow Brooklyn law alum, Ben Brash ’16. We recently celebrated our first-year wedding anniversary, have a spunky French bulldog, and are expecting our first child. I have joined Jack and Ben’s firm, Rukab Brash PLLC, as the third Brooklyn Law School partner.”

“Scott and Robin met at Brooklyn Law School as 1Ls. For Scott, it was love at first sight. Robin just thought Scott was cute. They spent the next three years studying at BLS and having fun in New York City. After graduation, Scott worked for a law firm on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center Tower #2, and Robin as a criminal defense lawyer in Manhattan. Scott proposed in Central Park on a hansom carriage ride, and they married in 1988, going on to raise two children, Max and Gabrielle, in suburban New Jersey. After taking a ‘work sabbatical,’ to be a mom, Robin joined Scott’s downtown Brooklyn law practice in 2005, which became Miller & Kahn. They have since relocated to the Hudson Valley, where they proceeded (at the respective ages of 60 and 59) to build a new law practice in Kingston, N.Y. Max, 32 and Gabrielle, 28, both reside in Astoria and the family is looking forward to Gabrielle’s wedding in November 2023, and many more years together in law and love!”

“Andrew and Alexi met at Brooklyn Law School in 2013 through the Brooklyn Business Law Association (BBLA). Maybe it was Andrew’s charm, or perhaps the way he said, ‘Securities Act of 1933,’ but Alexi was totally smitten! At a BBLA event at Floyd one night, we confessed how much we liked one another and have since been inseparable. We took several classes together at Brooklyn Law with Professors Roberta Karmel and Robin Effron and [Adjunct Professor] Roger Griesmeyer. After Law School, we stayed in the neighborhood and still live in Brooklyn to this day—joined by our cat, Buster! Andrew proposed on the Brooklyn Promenade. We married in 2019.”

“Zach and I met in Professor and Vice Dean Miriam Baer’s Criminal Procedure class in spring 2017. I was running late on the first day of class, so my friend saved me a seat in the back row right next to Zach.  Zach was very shy towards me, but brilliant—always raising his hand with the correct answer. As a two-year program student only in my second semester, I was in awe. Throughout the semester, I attempted small talk, mostly seeking advice on applying to clerkships and law review. Then I asked him to study for finals together. Thankfully, he said ‘yes,’ and the rest is history. Together we have survived three clerkships, three years in Big Law, and are planning a wedding and buying a house in South Orange, N.J.  Our wedding is on March 4, 2023, and we are so thankful to Brooklyn Law for bringing us together!”

“My husband and I met at BLS in 2000 at a Brooklyn Law Review karaoke party. We cemented our early relationship at O’Keefe’s and, frighteningly, at an 8 a.m. Friday morning Corporations class—a true bonding experience, both. We eventually got engaged after my clerkship. And now, 23 years later, we live in Los Angeles with two teenaged children who wouldn’t exist without BLS. Owen is 18 and Eliza turned 16 last week. I work at Netflix as a director of litigation and Robert is director, enterprise risk management at Southern California Edison. We always credit BLS with our love story!”

“We met at 1L orientation week in 2019. Ben’s roommate, who was on the same guided tour for 1Ls, introduced us in the courtyard, and we learned we had a lot in common at a Law School happy hour that followed. Initially, I friend-zoned Ben because he was 2 inches shorter than me and 2 years younger (lol), but after a fun Brooklyn Law Immigration Society (BLIS) trip to Ellis Island together six weeks later, the chemistry was clear. Our first date was at Black Forest on Smith Street. As crazy as this sounds, Ben unofficially proposed five days later. He officially proposed on Dec. 20, 2019, and we were. married on Aug. 6, 2021. We’ve adopted two rescue dogs, Copper and Tayto, currently work in immigration law, and remain very much in love.”

“I met Darren my second year at the BLS library on a Saturday afternoon in October. Although Darren was a first-year medical student at SUNY Downstate, he regularly studied at the Law School library. It was love at first sight. Our courtship led to our engagement 10 months later. We married in 1998, after I graduated and passed the bar, and will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this June. I always tell Darren that the best thing I ever did was go to BLS, since that’s where I met him. Our 18-year-old twins just left for college this past fall, and it’s nice to have him all to myself again.”

“We like to tell people we met at BLS, but we actually met at happy hour at O'Keefe’s bar around the corner on Court! We were 21: Marina was a 2nd year, and I was a 3rd year. We had a few classes together, including Entertainment Law and Prisoner's Rights with Professor Shomari Ward, if memory serves. I went straight into private practice, starting my own firm specializing in immigration law. Marina worked her way up the state and city court systems, becoming a housing judge in 2005, elected to the Supreme Court in 2018, and appointed to the Appellate Term 2nd Dept. just last month. We recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and have one daughter, age 16, who desires to follow in our footsteps and become an attorney.”

“My husband, Brian, and I met on our first day at Brooklyn Law School in 1982. We first locked eyes in Professor Bailey Kuklin’s (rhymes with Brooklyn) Legal Process class, had our first conversation at the Dean’s (former Hon. David Trager) Tea, and the rest is history. We were married in 1991 and are still enjoying blissful matrimony.”

“My husband and I met our 1L year at a classmate’s apartment and have been together since. We never took a class together, but we studied for the Bar together, day in and day out, in the basement of the Law School’s library. We married during the height of the pandemic in August 2020 by the Brooklyn Bridge with our closest loved ones. We are currently expecting our first child, a baby girl, due in March 2023.”

“As 2Ls, we were in the same Remedies class, and we both lived in Brooklyn Heights and belonged to Gold's Gym. After a suave (and somewhat sweaty) treadmill conversation, Ross asked Rachael to the movies, which turned into drinks at Last Exit, which led to hundreds of hours studying in the BLS library, moving to New York City, and getting through Barbri and the Bar together. After surviving those crazy first few years as practicing attorneys, we returned to Last Exit, and Ross proposed to Rachael on the stoop of her old apartment on Columbia Place. Two decades later, we still practice law and live in South Jersey with our children, Jakob, 13, and Penelope, 11. We return to Brooklyn Heights every year on our anniversary.”

Erica and Aidan shared the same legal writing class their 1L year. Erica sat in the front row, and Aidan in the back. They might never have met had Erica not strode up to Aidan in the library to introduce herself. Aidan was lucky that she did, because they started dating soon after and haven’t looked back. Throughout Law School, they leaned on each other for support and inspiration, practicing their moot court arguments together and calming each other down during finals. They were one another’s cheerleader and got through the bar together. Now, Erica is an Assistant District Attorney in Queens County, and Aidan works at a law firm. They continue to challenge each other every day, and are thankful that BLS brought them together.

“We met on the first day of orientation. The joke between our friends was that Brandon turned to our (now) friend Aaron and ‘called dibs’ when Sabrina entered the room. Our first official date was at Rocco’s Tacos. Our first official couple’s outing was at Barrister Ball our 1L year. We were at each other’s side the rest of Law School, taking almost every class together and moving in together at Feil Hall as 3Ls. Going through the rigor of Law School and studying for the Bar together proved that we could get through anything as a team. We were engaged in 2020, and got married Sept. 3, 2022, in Middletown N.Y. by former Kings County Supreme Court Judge, Hon. Alan Marrus, surrounded by many of our Law School friends.”