Whitney ’20 and Brandon ’20 Dei met at a Hofstra Law admitted student event in New York City. “I was lost trying to find the place where the event was being held,” Brandon says. “I recognized one of the people Whitney was walking with and went to ask them for directions.” Once they started talking, they didn’t stop. “We just kept talking, talking and talking,” Whitney says.
Developing a Relationship at Hofstra Law
Whitney and Brandon both lived in the graduate hall in their 1L year and were in the same section, so they spent a lot of time together and began dating early in the year. “We were in the same study group, and we studied together all of the time,” says Whitney.
“We got through it together. It was interesting because we always had each other to go back to even after we branched out and did our own things.”
“In our 3L year we moved together to a place in East Meadow, where we lived through our 3L year and through quarantine,” Brandon says. “We got through it together. It was interesting because we always had each other to go back to even after we branched out and did our own things. We’re interested in two totally different types of law and did our own separate activities. We lived our own law school lives but then came back to each other.”
“We work very well together. We studied for the bar exam together when everyone was in quarantine. It is very easy for us to bounce ideas back and forth with each other,” says Whitney.
While at Hofstra Law, Brandon was active in moot court and became a member of the Moot Court Board. “We were both involved in student organizations,” Whitney says. She was on the Family Court Review and was a senior coordinator for the courtroom advocates project helping victims of domestic violence. She also did a clinic for two semesters with Professor Liebmann, representing kids with immigration issues.
Whitney and Brandon got engaged in October 2021 at Disney World and got married on May 6, 2023. Hofstra Law is such a big part of their story that when they got married, they even invited some Hofstra Law professors to the event. “There were so many Hofstra Law people at the wedding and in the bridal party,” Whitney says. “Hofstra Law is where we met, and we love it to this day. We are still in touch with a lot of people from law school.”
Gaining Work Experience
Whitney works at Nassau Suffolk Law Services (NSLS) in their mental health unit, working on disability and housing cases. She works with clients who have Social Security overpayments or whose Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits were terminated, and she defends clients who are being evicted from their homes.
“I tried a bunch of different things,” she says. “I started in family court at the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in Queens, and I was with Legal Aid for a little over a year doing family court cases. Then I tried working in private practice, but I found it wasn’t for me. I have been with NSLS since July 2023, and I love it. I wanted to work specifically in the mental health unit. I couldn’t say no when the position was offered to me. The clients are great although can be challenging; we represent individuals who have been recently discharged from psychiatric hospitalization or who are in outpatient care.”
“While in law school I was a Family Law Fellow and all of my internships were in family law, including an internship with a judge in family court. I took a class about mental health issues, and I loved the class. I was able to shadow mental hygiene legal services for a day. That was a very special experience to me.”
“I struggled for a while to figure out what path to take in terms of my career,” she says. “I am very grateful that I’m able to be here and to have this job now. What we do is very flexible. Maybe in the future I can handle more cases back in family court, but even now if we have clients with a child support issue, for example, I can give them a little bit of advice in that area.”
Brandon’s interests lean more toward the financial world. After law school, he worked at a small bankruptcy firm in Melville. “The bar exam was canceled due to the pandemic,” he says, “so I started working at the firm earlier than expected. I had a great mentor who threw me into everything. I was there a year and a half.” Brandon currently has his own practice, The Law Offices of Brandon Dei, PLLC, where he is “working with a securities arbitration law group in Washington, D.C., representing public investors against stockbrokers and investment companies.”
“While at Hofstra Law, I took bankruptcy with Judge Scarcella. I liked the class and did well,” Brandon says. “I like the financial realm and I like representing normal people — people whose houses are being sold tomorrow or where the sheriff is at the doorstep. I wanted to continue helping those kinds of people. But the jobs I saw in that area were mostly with banks and corporations. With my own practice I can represent normal, everyday people.”
Whitney and Brandon are currently living in Huntington and plan to remain on Long Island. “We’re finally settling into life and now we’re both happy with our jobs, and where we are now,” Brandon says. “We are looking forward to starting a family together in the future,” says Whitney.
The post Alumni Love Connections at Hofstra Law: Whitney (Punzone) ’20 and Brandon Dei ’20 appeared first on Hofstra Law News.