Happy Valentine’s Day, BC Law! Remember to tell your law school people that you love them!

Love is all over the place in law school. It probably makes sense since law students spend so much time together (shout out to our workload for inspiring a forced proximity trope). I had the opportunity to talk with BC Law class of 2016 alum Meghan Morgan about how she met her husband back in her first semester of law school in Fall of 2013 during one fateful 1L softball game. Fun fact: Rob actually helped to create BC Impact. Thank you to both of them for sharing their story with me and for letting me share it with the BC Law community. Let this be your sign to join your section’s softball team next fall.

A: Thank you so much for meeting with me today! To start, just go ahead and tell me about you and Rob.

M: Absolutely! My name is Meghan Morgan and my now-husband of almost 5 years is Robert Rossi. We are both in the BC Law class of 2016, so we started Fall 2013. Rob is a ninth-year associate at Ropes & Gray here in Boston. I just accepted a role at Microsoft as Principal Corporate Counsel advising on their global environmental and regulatory compliance programs. I was previously with Amazon Web Services in a similar role doing regulatory work and risk management. However, in the way-back machine back to 2013, we were both just babies who went straight through from undergrad to law school.

A: And where are you guys from?

M: Rob is from Boston and has basically never left. I am from Winter Park, Florida and lived in Florida before coming to Boston, where I knew absolutely no one. So, it was really important to me that I took any opportunity that BC Law gave outside of the classroom to meet people. I did make friends in my section but I also signed up for any extracurriculars because I just wanted to meet people.

A: So how did you two meet?

M: I signed up to play on my section’s softball team in the fall. I am not a softball player, I am not an athlete, for me it was an opportunity to meet some friends, blow off steam, hangout on a Saturday before it got too cold outside, drink a few beers, and have fun. I showed up for Section 3’s team, which I think was called “The Top Gunners.” Rob was in Section 1, and his team was called “It’s Raining Mens Rea.” We met because Rob was the only person that showed up to softball and tried really hard. He was hitting the ball far, he was running fast… I frankly found it annoying. He was taking it so seriously! And I was there to have a good time. So my first impression of him was that he was intense.

A: Do you know his first impression of you was on the field?

M: Well, I’m sure he was blown away by my wit, charm, and beauty. Actually, I think at the time he probably didn’t clock me at all. I was probably the one noticing him and he was not noticing me back yet.

A: Was that how it was throughout 1L?

M: Yes, and I developed a bit of a crush. But he and I were both dating people who were not law students. During 1L I guess we were friends? We would see each other on the bus, we would see each other in the halls. I always said “hi,” but that was the extent of it. 2L was where it picked up.

A: Well now I’m ready to hear about 2L!

M: In 2L we were back playing softball. He had broken up with his girlfriend and I had broken up with my boyfriend. At this point I am full-blown flirting and not being subtle. When I broke up with my ex, I kind of let Rob know I was interested, because again, I am not subtle. By the end of 2L we were fully dating. 

A: Did you guys ever have any classes together?

M: We had Corporations together in 2L. He was very good at it and I was not. I would ask him if I could join his study group. Again, I was not subtle. I just wanted him to hang out with me!

A: Did he let you join his study group?

M: He invited me to join his study group, like, the day before the final.

A: So when did he ask you to be his girlfriend?

M: It was after Barrister’s Ball. We were not officially dating, but we spent all of Barrister’s together. It was after he asked me to be his girlfriend.

A: Okay so you guys dated 2L and obviously throughout 3L. What did your relationship look like right after graduation? He’s working in Big Law, and I know you had a fellowship at the Attorney General’s Office.

M: Yes, and we had both moved into the world’s worst apartments. I had a Beacon Hill 5th-floor walkup with no air, laundry, and it was like 300 square feet. He had a Back Bay basement apartment that would regularly flood that was also like 300 square feet. We had no money but we loved each other and also wanted to live close to our jobs. At the time that’s what we wanted, and we were both very excited. I would walk from Beacon Hill to his place and meet him after work. I was working a government job so my hours were better than his as a first-year associate at a firm. The mid-way point was the Public Gardens. We took millions of walks in the gardens and hung out there all the time. One of our favorite things was to go and watch other people’s dogs play. 

A: What did your relationship look like once Rob started as an associate in Big Law?

M: It didn’t really affect anything. I knew he was working so hard and I wanted to make sure he was taking care of himself physically and mentally. His number one priority was work and so was mine, but our demands were slightly different because of what we were doing. So if he was getting out of work later, then we’d have a late dinner or just do something else at a later time. We would reserve time, like a Saturday, where we knew we could at least block off half the day and spend dedicated time together. I never went more than a few days without seeing him, and we still always talked. It’s a lot of work to be a first-year associate at a Big Law firm, but it’s never going to interfere with your relationships if you love each other.

A: When did you guys move in together?

M: After we had those awful and separate apartments for one year, once we were dating for 2.5 years, we decided to test the waters and got an apartment together. My parents freaked out. We moved into an apartment on the South End on the border of South End and Back Bay. We still wanted to be close to our offices. We didn’t have a car or a ton of money, but it was really fun. I look back fondly on that time. We were eating Lean Cuisines for dinner and walking everywhere and could only buy as many groceries as we could carry from the Star Market in the Prudential tower. But we were growing together, becoming adults and navigating our first real-life jobs, and it was so fun. Moving in together solidified we worked well together in all aspects of our lives.

A: And then when did you get engaged?

M: We got engaged around 4 years after dating in July 2019. He proposed to me on my birthday, which is the only way I could be surprised while I knew he was doing a lot of nice stuff for me already for some other reason. My whole family is in Florida, and he knows how important they are to me. He suggested we spend my birthday in Florida so I could see them. He had planned for us all to go to my favorite French restaurant, which, again, I thought was for my birthday. I had no suspicions, but I should have because he was wearing a nice suit and I was just wearing a dress that wasn’t special.

A: Did your family know he was going to propose?

M: Yes, everyone was in on it except for me. After dinner we went on a walking tour downtown. We were on a beautiful balcony and I turned around and he’s down on one knee, and I almost fell off the balcony. I was so excited. I cannot believe I didn’t pick up on the cues. My mom had started tearing up a few times throughout the night. I was like, “it’s just a mid-20’s birthday, no worries mom!” 

A: Was there a party afterwards?

M: Rob had decorated this room with flowers and cakes. He organized the entire after party. All of my friends and family were there. He went above and beyond to tailor it to what he knew I’d really want, which was for my family to be part of it.

A: That is so sweet! Now… tell me about the wedding.

M: So we got engaged in Summer of 2019, and a few months later the world completely shut down because of Covid. We had already booked our venue for the Fall of 2020 back in Winter Park in Florida. I had a wedding dress, the DJ, the bartender, and the food all ready to go. But with Covid, we determined that having the wedding would not be safe. At this point we had been working for awhile and living together, and we knew we were getting married. So instead of having a big party as planned, we put a downpayment down for a house in the suburbs. We moved to Needham and the first thing we did after we got the keys to our house was go to the Needham Town Hall and got married by the Town Clerk Officiant in our masks. Rob got us masks made that said “Mr.” and “Mrs.”

A: He sounds so romantic.

M: He is! While getting my law degree from BC is fantastic, the most impactful thing of my life that happened at BC was meeting Rob. We got technically married September 4, 2020, and then we waited a full year to have our wedding party in Florida.

A: Did anyone from law school go to the party?

M: We had a much smaller version of the wedding that we planned, with just our loved ones getting together. About 20 of the people at our small wedding were our BC classmates. Two of my best friends from my section, who I met on my first day of school, were bridesmaids at our wedding. They both actually also met their husbands at BC Law! I was a bridesmaid at both of their weddings. I married someone in our year, one of my friends married a guy in the year above us, and the other one married a guy in the year below. One of them has 4 kids, and the other has 1 already with another on the way. We are all going strong and we are all super happy.

A: That is so crazy! But also so fun that you all have BC Law in common, especially since you’re so close with your friends. To start wrapping things up, I wanted to ask what it has been like to see how far you both have come into having successful careers, and also what it’s like to be with someone who is in the same profession.

M: Even though we have different practice areas and work for different employers, the demand and pressure and ambition we have are so easily understood by each other. It makes us appreciate the time when we have a vacation or have a lazy Sunday together. Day to day he is the person I check in with about work and life, and he does the same for me, even if we don’t understand each other’s jobs. We are each other’s biggest cheerleaders, and we always back each other’s careers 100%. When I got my new role, he was more proud of me than I was proud of myself. When he closes a big deal after working really hard for it, I get so proud of him and his work ethic and ambition. He was a successful law student, and he’s just as good as a husband, friend, partner, and roommate.

A: And I’m sure being with each other since law school gives you guys a greater appreciation for the strides you’ve made since dating in 2L.

M: Oh, totally. But again, he was a superstar student our year and I was not. We both ended up pretty good though so it’s all fine!

A: This was the cutest story ever. Is there anything else you want to say about finding love in law school?

M: It’s all random and you spend a lot of time with these people. Whether you leave as friends or good colleagues who are part of your professional network, or you literally find your husband or wife, it’s all fair game at BC Law! I appreciate it so much that I came into law school not knowing a single person, and I left with the person I’m spending the rest of my life with.

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Alexandra Staller is a 1L student at BC Law. Contact her at stallera@bc.edu.