Stephen Johnson is a shareholder with Lydecker LLP

As an experienced attorney, he is known to skillfully use the meaning of words and leverage it in a debate. Case in point?  Ask him when he met his wife. Though they both agree that Councilman Reggie Leon introduced them, it doesn’t go much further than that. “My wife swears to me that she met me before I met her, and [yes[ there’s photographic evidence of it,  but clearly she misinterprets the word  “meeting,” declares Stephen.

Nevertheless, when he first laid eyes on Dr. Gabrielle Carey-Johnson, a psychotherapist, she made quite the impression. “She knocked me out.. So I literally talked her head off for the rest of the night.”

That part she pretty much agrees with. “He talks too much,” Gabrielle remembers when she thinks about how they first met.

“But he was hilarious and very attentive.” They started to date but at some point things started falling off track. Scheduling conflicts, workload engagements and lack of planning made her feel that she wasn’t a priority. The final straw was when he had a meeting with a client that ran over. That’s when she told him it was best for them not to see each other.

“I wanted him to come back but he didn’t. But it was okay because I was okay with myself.I was busy.  I was starting a doctoral program, one of the two, and I just didn’t want the  added frustration.”

And as for Stephen he failed to read between the lines. In fact, he didn’t even realize that there were any lines to begin with. “I wasn’t chasing her at the moment because I didn’t understand that I had to chase her.

He then bumped into her again at an AKA event. “I go see Reggie, and who’s at the other end of the bar? My future wife. So then I had two shots, and I said, All right, Reggie, I’ll be back.”

They have been together ever since.

They have been married for nine years and are the proud parents  to their 13 year-old son and a set of 5 year-old twins.