Langesfeld, 26, was killed in the June 24 collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, along with her 28-year-old husband, Luis Sadovnic. The couple, who lived in Sadovnic's grandmother's condo, had married in January.

Reed Smith legal assistant Regla Barrios started a GoFundMe to raise money for the families.

Langesfeld earned a 4.0 GPA from the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she met Sadovnic and graduated in 2016. She then enrolled in the University of Miami School of Law, where former professor Andrew Dawson said she displayed a rare interest in difficult courses such as business associations and secured transactions.

"They're bar courses, they're big classes, there are a lot of students in each. I'm not able to get to know that many students in those large classes, but I remember Nicole very clearly," Dawson said. "She actually had fun acting as a lawyer. She was very memorable in that way."

In addition to her studies, Langesfeld also helped edit the school's law review.

Dawson said other students liked Langesfeld, too, because she would raise her hand to ask questions often shared by the group.

"It helped me as a professor, and her classmates appreciated it, too," he said. "She was never dominating the conversation. She was always adding to it."

After graduating magna cum laude, Langesfeld joined Reed Smith as a summer associate in 2019. According to Barton, she began working with clients straight away and earned an offer by the end of the summer.

"We're so fortunate that she joined us," Barton said. "She was an incredibly hard worker but also brought to the table the joy of practicing law. It's grueling hours but it was fun to work with her."

Reed Smith insurance recovery associate Noah Goldberg said he would FaceTime with Langesfeld almost every day when the office went remote last spring. As the pandemic began to subside, the pair would work from Langesfeld's condo, walking Langesfeld's and Sadovnic's Staffordshire Terrier, Capo, on the beach.

Goldberg said she was scheduled to defend her first deposition last week.

"It's hard to describe the person Nicky was because some of the words sound like generic superlatives or platitudes, but she was the very real embodiment of so many things that people aspire to be," Goldberg said. "I've never laughed so much when writing a brief as I have when I've done it with Nicky."