Valentine's Day at GW Law

February 14, 2023

an illustration of a box of chocolates with the words GW Alumni Sweethearts above it

Love is in the air! This Valentine's Day, we asked several of our alumni to share how they found love at GW Law. Here are their stories:

Antoinette Carradine, JD '18 and Tatiana Cody, JD '18

Antoinette Carradine and Tatiana Cody wedding photos

^{Antoinette Carradine, JD '18 and Tatiana Cody, JD '18}

“The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) connected us. BLSA was absolutely critical for both of us as it created a sense of family and community. Not only did we make lifelong friendships through BLSA, we found a lifelong love and a family of our own.” - Antoinette Carradine and Tatiana Cody

Griffin Pace, JD '21 and Noga Baruch, JD '21

"We met in our 1L year when we were both in the same legal research and writing class in Jackson Inn. We got to know each other as study partners and would stay late at school studying together almost every day. Griffin would walk Noga home to her apartment in Dupont Circle, and it took Noga months to realize that Griffin lived in Pentagon City and was taking an extra 40 minutes to get home so that he could walk with her. We started dating at the end of our first semester, and have been together since. We now live together in Atlanta." - Griffin Pace and Noga Baruch

^{Griffin Pace, JD '21 and Noga Baruch, JD '21}

Jason V. Morgan, JD '08 and Qian Sheng, LLM '06

^{Jason V. Morgan, JD '08 and Qian Sheng, LLM '06}

"Being engaged in class can lead to being engaged. Jason talked a lot in Corporate Law. Too much if you asked his classmates. But this interest in class made Qian think he would be a good study partner. They exchanged phone numbers, but Jason thought Qian was interested in him (as opposed to his non-existent outline). Qian didn’t clear up his misunderstanding, allowing what was supposed to be a brief study arrangement blossom into a relationship instead. Last Fall, Qian and Jason took a break from raising their two girls, Sophia and Addison, to celebrate their fifteen-year marriage anniversary by trekking around the United Kingdom. Both Qian and Jason are grateful that their studies at GWU had such a positive, unexpected impact on their lives." - Jason V. Morgan and Qian Sheng

Justin Aiken, JD '10 and Khelin Aiken, JD '08

“Everyone has times, events and places that hold a special place in their heart. GW Law (and the greater GW community) are one of those places for me because meeting Khelin there forever changed my life. And both of our children were born at GW hospital, which is just the icing on the cake.” -Justin Aiken

“I was immediately attracted to Justin, Spring semester of my 1L year (he was a 3L) I finally asked him out on a date and now I can’t get rid of him" - Khelin Aiken

“Two kids and 15 years later we still feel so incredibly blessed to have met at the Black Law Students Association Meeting at GW Law.” - Khelin & Justin Aiken

^{Justin Aiken, JD '10 and Khelin Aiken, JD '08}

Adriana Jansen-Corn, LLM '92 and Gary Corn, JD '91

Gary's Army retirement photo with his wife and children

^{Gary and Adriana's family at Gary's Army retirement ceremony}

"One of my earliest memories of my husband Gary is from sometime in the Fall of 1990, when I was a foreign graduate student from Brazil, pursuing an LLM at GW Law. I worked part-time at the law library, and I remember seeing him for the first time as he walked into the library. He seemed too young to be a law student, so I thought he was just meeting someone at the school. But his gorgeous blue eyes and long eyelashes caught my attention, and eventually, he charmed me into a conversation. We talked a few times, and he impressed me with his fluency in Spanish and interest in travel and foreign cultures. One day, he invited me for pizza at a small place on I street. I guess that was our first date, and the rest is history." - Adriana Jansen-Corn, LLM '92

"I owe way more to the GW Law library than just offering a place to quietly study, research, and learn. Fortunately for me, GW Law had the great sense to hire an ID card checker whose qualifications were, from my perspective, that she was beautiful, vivacious, and as it turned out, a smart and interesting Brazilian LLM student. Forget that she wasn’t capable of preventing a determined intruder from gaining access to the library, I was more than happy to submit to her security checks. So, once I got up the nerve to move past compliantly flashing my ID card and ask her out for pizza, we started dating in the late fall of my first year. Because Adriana was far from home, I invited her to spend Christmas day with my family up at Fort Meade, Maryland, which immediately threw her into the lion’s den of my four raucous, wisecracking brothers (one of whom, Geoff, was also a GW Law
student at the time). They immediately dubbed her “Lambada," the Brazilian forbidden dance, mayhem and (good-natured) razzing commenced, and Adriana took it all in stride. With that major test passed, it wasn’t long before the die was completely cast." - Gary Corn, JD '91

Chris Baum, JD '12 and Leslie Lagomasino, JD '13

“We met senior year at Boston College. Chris went straight to GW Law, while Leslie took a year off to work for a law firm in Boston. Around the time that law school applications were due, Chris sent Leslie a Facebook message letting her know that he would be 'happy to review her application essay.' Leslie didn’t take him up on his offer but still managed to get into GW Law. We became close friends, and we started dating Leslie's 3L year."

^{Chris Baum, JD '12 and Leslie Lagomasino, JD '13}

Some couples have even remained close friends to this day!

Sam and Janice Ulan, and Dave and Lyn Ermer

^{L to R: Lyn Ermer, JD '79, Sam Ulan, JD '79, Janice Ulan, JD '79, and Dave Ermer, JD '79}

"Jan and I met at GW Law. In fact, we were next-door neighbors on the second floor of Francis Scott Key Hall. ... For our first date, I asked Jan to the Fall White House Garden tour, which back in the day, was on a Sunday, open to the public, and allowed full access to the grounds and the public rooms on the first floor. First Lady, Rosslyn Carter, made an unscheduled appearance to greet the guests and we were privileged to shake her hand. Unfortunately, cell phones hadn't been invented, and we didn't bring a camera to document the event. We were married after our second year and recently celebrated our 44th anniversary.

Lots of times, late at night, after studying at the Burns Law Library we would go to Bon Appetite, a burger joint in the basement of a townhouse on Red Lion Row, for carryout burgers. They were the absolute best, charcoal grilled, and they had many choices. Jan would always get a No. 10, which had the burger, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and Russian dressing; I’d get the No. 5, which had grilled onions, grilled mushrooms and Sauce Robere, which was basically A-1 steak sauce. They were very reasonably priced, probably $2, and we’d get them several times per week. And the spot was very popular with all GW students. I don’t know if it’s still there. There was no seating, we ate on a bench outside or took them back to our apartments at FSK." - Sam Ulan

"Lyn Feinsilber and I met on the second floor of the Francis Scott Key graduate student housing in August 1976. It turned out that Lyn and I were in the same GW Law section. It was love at first sight for me. The relationship took longer to develop for Lyn. We were a couple by the beginning of the second year, and we were married in the summer before our third year. (At that point Lyn Feinsilber became Lyn Ermer.) Our close friends Jan and Sam Ulan, also from FSK, became a couple before Lyn and I, but Lyn and I were married two months before Jan and Sam.

Although law school was more work than college, Lyn and I enjoyed spending time with our friends in the disco years at GW. Like Jan and Sam, we enjoyed eating at the Bone. Our local grocery store was a Safeway located in the Watergate, which was a notorious location in the 1970s. My friends and I would play touchdown on the lawn across from the Office of Personnel Management building on Sundays in the fall and spring while Lyn and her friends created a year-round War Board for important decision-making.

Lyn and I appreciate the excellent legal education that we received, and our many friendships started, at GW Law." - Dave Ermer