This should test them !!
Elizabeth Grant ’28 remembers being “wretchedly unhappy” the morning she met her future husband, Azam Janmohamed ’28.
They were freshmen at Stanford University in the fall of 2018 and taking part in the school’s “rollout” ritual, where new club participants are awakened at an early hour and escorted to a campus location for some initial bonding time — in Grant and Janmohamed’s case, the roof of Stanford Law School as new members of the mock trial team.
“All of the pictures of it, I’m making the most sour, horrible face,” Grant said, explaining that she is “not a morning person.”
Despite the unpleasant timing of their introductions, she and Janmohamed soon became close as teammates and friends. Eventually, they became partners and, earlier this year, husband and wife. Now, this fall, they are starting a new journey together as first-year students at the University of Virginia School of Law — and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Born in Toronto, Janmohamed and his family moved to Houston in the early 2000s. That preceded an even bigger move in 2010 to Karachi, Pakistan, after his parents got jobs there. Janmohamed spent about five years abroad before moving to New Jersey to attend boarding school.
“Culturally, it was a transition,” he said of moving to Karachi, but described the experience as “probably my favorite time of my life” prior to college.
By contrast, Grant describes her childhood as “the shorter version,” having been born and raised in Riverside, California.
“I was there forever until I applied and went to Stanford,” she said.
During high school, Grant was already showing her skill as a future litigator, including a top finish at the prestigious Gladiator competition, which features the best high school mock trial competitors in the country.
“Liz is going to be modest about it because she always is,” Janmohamed said. “Liz is like a mock trial goddess. She was before she got to Stanford, she was while we were at Stanford and, in many ways, I looked up to her, and I continue to look up to her.”
At Stanford, they both excelled on the collegiate mock trial circuit, capturing numerous awards and national honors.
In addition to mock trial and completing the courses required for their degrees — Grant majored in English, while Janmohamed studied political science — they both also worked throughout college, leaving little down time. And that was just fine with them.
“Mock trial was definitely all-consuming, but it was just so fun. I could have not slept the entirety of college and been completely OK,” Grant said.
“You almost didn’t,” Janmohamed joked during their joint interview.
Amid the joy, though, came grief when their beloved mock trial coach, Thom Scher, died unexpectedly in December 2021, during the middle of their senior year.
“That year was heartbreaking, and it was incredibly difficult,” Grant said.
Reflecting on Scher, Janmohamed recalled a moment when the coach, who kept meticulous records on Stanford’s mock trial achievements over the years, sent a message to the entire team to celebrate the All-American honors of Grant and Janmohamed, noting how the two had pushed each other and improved the team.
“I remember texting him, and I was like ‘That meant so much to me, just to put me in the same sentence as Elizabeth Grant,’” Janmohamed said
With the season still ahead of them, he and Grant stepped up to fill the leadership role for the team, and the two once again were named All-Americans at the national championship event.
“I remember just hearing both of our names called out and sitting down and just being like, what a year,” Grant said.
Around the same time, Janmohamed considered proposing to Grant and was starting to put out some not-so-subtle feelers among their shared friend group.
“I was taking a friend to the airport at some point during senior year, and she turns to me and she goes, ‘What would you hypothetically do if Azam proposed?’” Grant said.
“I was kind of suspicious,” she added, particularly after another friend asked the same thing later that day.
Grant later put his mind at ease, assuring him that her answer would be yes. She and Janmohamed officially became engaged in May, surrounded by friends who had gathered for what was billed as a “graduation” photo on the beach.
Over the next three years, they lived together in a variety of places, including Washington, D.C., where they both worked at law firms, leading up to their wedding in Houston earlier this year in February — which, it turned out, wasn’t the only momentous event that occurred that week.
“We were preparing for the wedding that week when we got the call almost simultaneously that we had gotten into UVA together,” Grant said. “I couldn’t even process the information at the time. I was so happy.”
Both are grateful they took a break after Stanford to spend time outside of the classroom.
“I learned so much over these past few years. I loved my work, and I think that that deep love solidified the conviction that I feel like I already had about wanting to be a lawyer,” Janmohamed said.
Having a married couple join an entering UVA Law class is an unusual occurrence, said Natalie Blazer ’08, assistant dean for admissions and chief admissions officer.
“Rarely do we find applicants of Liz and Azam’s caliber separately, let alone as two halves of a couple,” Blazer said. “But what struck us the most about Liz and Azam is actually how deeply they care for one another and the law. I am so proud that they chose to matriculate at UVA Law and think they will be right at home in our community.”
As they prepare to write the next chapter in their personal and professional lives, there is one thing Grant and Janmohamed are certain of: They will always be teammates.
“Our two priorities were to get the best legal education possible and to be together. For me, I cannot have the best legal education possible without the two of us being together,” Grant said.
https://www.law.virginia.edu/news/202508/newly-married-couple-ready-tackle-law-school-together
