The early years of practicing law tested them in ways law school never could. The economy was unforgiving, work was inconsistent, and then, on the same day their son was being evaluated for a developmental delay, their house caught fire. They lost nearly everything they owned in a single afternoon. Not long after, that evaluation became a diagnosis of Autism.

There wasn't a lot of good information available at the time, and even less patience from the people around them. Brandi and Samuel spent more nights than they can count simply sitting together, without the words to say much of anything, figuring out — side by side — how to rebuild a home and understand what their son needed, often at the same time.

That season is also where the two of them found the work they do today. Learning to advocate for their own child, in rooms where no one was going to do it for them, is what eventually led both Brandi and Samuel to family law and to serving as Guardians ad Litem — standing in courtrooms for children and families who need someone who has actually lived what they're going through, not just studied it.

Twenty years after two strangers were introduced in a French class, Brandi and Samuel are still building that life together — as law partners, as parents to four children, and as two people who know firsthand that the hardest chapters are sometimes the ones that decide what you spend the rest of your life fighting for.