A Valentine’s Day celebration of Duke Law’s alumni couples
A Valentine's Day tradition, Duke Law alumni couples share about how they found their lasting love while pursuing a law degree.
This Valentine's Day, Duke law alums are fondly reflecting upon and reminiscing about how they found love at Duke Law School. For some it was love at first sight or an eye-catching smile, while others first met at student group mixers. One couple's first date was literally soaring among the clouds and another cruised along U.S. 15-501, top down in a convertible.
However they met, all of our alum couples agree that Duke University holds a very special place in their hearts. One couple exchanged vows in Sarah P. Duke Gardens and another recalled a surprise proposal and tying the knot at Duke University Chapel. Learn more about our wonderful alum couples below and be sure to check out last year's Duke Law alum couples, as well.
Howard and Lauren say it seemed like everyone – from fellow students to faculty – was playing matchmaker, wanting to get them together when they were at the Law School. “Apparently everyone was onto something, since we’ve been happily together for almost 20 years!,” Howard says.
Their road to romance started in a convertible riding down U.S. 15-501 toward Chapel Hill. They spent their first date at Vespa, a longtime eatery on West Franklin Street, followed by drinks at Martini Bar and a movie. Amid a fun evening of talking and laughing, “I knew Lauren was the last person I would ever date,” Howard says.
They started dating during Lauren’s 1L year and, during their time at Duke Law, both worked on the Duke Environmental and Policy Law Forum and took two classes together – “Lauren got better grades!” They were locker mates, too.
In 2008, locker mates became newlyweds when the two tied the knot in New Jersey, where Lauren grew up. Howard had proposed when he was working as a first-year associate at Ropes & Gray LLP in NYC and Lauren was studying abroad in Copenhagen during her 3L year.
“Lauren knew that I was coming to visit but had no idea what I had up my sleeve,” says Howard, who dropped to knee to propose to Lauren at a local restaurant. “None of the nearby Danes could figure out why I was on the floor of the restaurant, or why I wanted to take a picture.”
Lauren is now an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Social Security Administration and Howard is senior counsel for Cybersecurity at the Allstate Corporation. They’re also proud parents of 11-year-old twin boys and a retired racing greyhound.
Howard and Lauren say while they love being parents, they enjoy taking time to act like they’re law students again, too. “Making time for each other, making time for each other’s hobbies, and spending time together as a family keeps us going strong, 20 years later,” he says.
Betty and Freddy met during their first year at Duke Law, when she jokingly told him he was just the kind of boy that her parents would love for her to bring home. Turns out she was right.
A first date at Southpoint Mall would years later lead to them trading vows at Sarah P. Duke Gardens. The two got engaged while they were working as junior associates in New York City. This year, Betty and Freddy celebrate their 10-year anniversary and say it’s fun to revisit and reminisce at Southpoint and Duke Gardens when they get back to Durham.
“It was magical to be back where it all started,” she says.
The couple is raising a family – 7-year-old Carter and 4-year-old Reagan – in Dallas, where Betty is partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Freddy is general counsel at the Victory Real Estate Group. She says starting out as friends and remaining that way through the years has nurtured their marriage, in addition to sharing the same values and lighthearted spirit.
Duke holds a very special place in Lauren and Ennis’ hearts. Lauren was a Duke undergrad, and the couple met at Duke Law, had their first conversation about Duke men’s basketball, and shared two special moments at Duke Chapel.
“Under the guise of seeing how Duke had changed, Ennis took me to the Chapel and surprised me by getting on one knee,” Lauren says. “He had even hired a photographer to capture the whole thing.”
Lauren and Ennis first met at a welcome dinner hosted by the Black Law Students Association during Ennis’ 1L year. The two got to talking afterward when the group moved on to Fullsteam Brewery in downtown Durham.
A text from Lauren to Ennis about her First Amendment class (“Thanks, Professor Stuart M. Benjamin!”) led to regular chats, spending time together at group outings to the N.C. State Fair and Dame's Chicken & Waffles, and their first date.
Lauren says, “Our first date was a classic: dinner and a movie. We went to a Pan-Asian restaurant in Raleigh called Chompa, where I quickly learned that sushi is one of Ennis’s favorite foods.”
Following the proposal at Duke Chapel, Ennis and Lauren returned to his aunt and uncle’s home in Raleigh for another surprise – both of their families were there waiting to celebrate their engagement with them. On June 25, 2022, Lauren and Ennis were married at Duke Chapel among their friends and family.
Today, they live in New York City, where Lauren works as associate counsel for the National Basketball Association and Ennis works as counsel for the New York Mets. Away from work, Lauren says they are intentional about spending time together; whether that’s a night on the town or staying in to playing video games.
Arthur and Angelica met on their very first day of law school in 1994. They were in a small section together. “You could not have imagined two distinctly different students!” Arthur says. “I was the nerdy guy from rural North Carolina, and Angelica was the beautiful, outgoing girl from Miami.”
Angelica served as president of the Moot Court Board and Arthur was editor-in-chief of Law & Contemporary Problems, and the two remained casual acquaintances up until their 3L year, when things changed.
“During the first semester of our third year, the group lunches on Ninth Street and the late-night group study sessions at Barnes & Noble gradually became just the two of us,” Angelica says. “We became best friends and were inseparable for the rest of the year.”
When they graduated from Duke and Angelica left Durham to study for the bar, Arthur says he immediately missed their extended coffee breaks at Starbucks and the afternoon walks through Duke Gardens. “As we started our careers in different cities, it wasn’t long before we knew that there was more to our Duke connection than friendship.”
In 1998, Angelica got staffed on an international deal where the principal negotiations were in London over Thanksgiving weekend. “I was distraught to spend Thanksgiving away from home,” Angelica recalls. Arthur decided on the spur of the moment to take a redeye flight from New York to London. He surprised Angelica on Thanksgiving morning at her hotel room and proposed to her. “I really had no plan B if she said ‘No’!” he says. On February 19, they’ll celebrate 23 years of marriage.
Currently, Angelica works as a real estate and corporate attorney and Arthur is president of Gallagher Capital Group LLC, a private real estate lender specializing in commercial real estate financing in South Florida.
“We are thankful to Duke Law every day for the opportunity to unite our distinctly different backgrounds. Every time we step on campus, we remember just how special our time was there,” Angelica says.
Arthur and Angelica have three children: Matthew, aged 20, Caroline, aged 18 (and Duke class of 2027), and Julianne, aged 15. The couple looks forward to any opportunity they have to visit Durham, rekindle the memories of Duke Law and share those experiences with their children. And Arthur notes, “Besides, you can’t beat the golf and barbecue!”
It was love at first sight for Bob and Sarah when they met in the J. Michael Goodson Law Library in the fall of 1995. It was “love at first flight,” too, when Bob whisked Sarah away in his small plane for a weekend to visit his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., on one of their first dates.
As the plane soared over Niagara Falls, Bob piloted from the left seat and Sarah navigated from the right, foreshadowing their later roles as equal partners at the controls of their lives together. Following a two-year courtship, Bob proposed to Sarah on a warm summer evening amidst the daffodils and moonlight in Paris’ Jardin De Tuileries.
“We promptly moved to California,” Bob says, “to stake our claim in the Internet gold rush of Silicon Valley in the fall of ‘99.”
Bob and Sarah held their nuptials at Pebble Beach in 2001 and welcomed their first child, Grace Jayne, in 2005. Their family grew again in 2013, with the birth of Dylan Hope. They continue to practice law with Sarah a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in the Bay Area and Bob co-founding Quarry VC in Silicon Valley.
Married for more than 20 years, the couple say mutual respect and admiration for each other’s unique gifts and talents coupled with an abundant religious faith and a love of French champagne are what keeps their relationship thriving.
Ruben may have literally danced his way into Tara’s heart. The two met just before starting class at Duke Law and continued seeing each other around the Law School. Then, one night while the two were chatting during a Bar Review at Satisfaction, the longtime Durham restaurant and bar, Ruben made an interesting claim.
“Ruben bragged about his tap-dancing abilities (and even did a little jig),” Tara says. “We became friends. Many months later, we started dating.”
A memorable first date included a fun night of 'chicken'-themed bingo at Fullsteam Brewery, “complete with live chickens,” Tara says. The couple enjoyed exploring Durham together, especially the downtown area, while at Duke. Being in the same large section, they took Torts and Criminal Law together, as well.
Tara says, “We tried studying together but quickly learned our studying styles were incompatible and pulled the plug on that!”
In late 2018, the two went on a hiking trip in Bhutan that would change their lives. Ruben proposed and the couple were married the following fall in Whistler, British Columbia. “We were thrilled so many of our Duke friends were able to celebrate with us, and over the years we’ve been able to celebrate so many milestones with them — career moves, marriages, babies and more,” Tara says.
Both thriving professionals, they find joy in appreciating each other’s life and professional goals – and supporting each other in them, as well. “It has helped build mutual respect and admiration,” Tara says. Currently, Ruben is counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Tara is an assistant attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Recently, Ruben and Tara had a baby and, she says, they couldn’t be happier.
In fall of 2020, when classes and events went remote,1Ls were mostly meeting their fellow students online. At one such gathering, an OutLaw social event on Zoom, Claudia met Alexandria, a 2L and the group’s external vice president.
"We started getting to know each other after that,” Claudia says. For a first date, they went to a drive-in to see the 80’s classic Alien, but the sci-fi thriller ran into technical difficulties. “The sound wasn’t working in our car, so we spent most of the movie talking.”
Both continued their service in OutLaw, with Claudia taking on the role of director of social media for the group. They also had some classes together and were enrolled in the Health Justice Clinic at the same time.
Currently, Claudia is wrapping up her 3L year and Alexandria is working as a judicial law clerk for the U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C. Both spend as much time together as they can, including parenting their pup, Randall, and watching Duke basketball. After graduation, they’re setting their sights on Washington, D.C.