Urges State & Local Bars to Accommodate Military Spouse Attorneys

Military spouses are a wonderful untapped resource who sacrifice so much for our nation. While they don’t serve on the front lines, they are equally committed to serving our nation. We owe it to them to support them and our military families by removing unnecessary barriers to entry.

I concur with Haley Uthlaut. I work directly with four incredibly professional military spouses, all attorneys who have had to give up their legal careers to support their military spouse. While they have gracefully served our nation in supporting their active duty family member, without these types of barriers they could also be serving in their chosen profession.

I am a military spouse and my profession (teaching) also requires a license. Too many military spouses are forced to leave their chosen career when they move. Becoming licensed over and over again is a barrier that she be removed in thanks to their service as a military spouse. It is the least you can do.

Here is a great opportunity for individual states to support our troops.

I am a military spouse and a new attorney. I passed the bar exam and was admitted to practice in one state, but then promptly moved to a new state because of my husband’s orders. I have been unable to work or even volunteer because of licensing issues. Furthermore, I can’t even refer to myself as a “lawyer” because of the strict rules in my current jurisdiction! This resolution and the support it has received so far is very meaningful to me and others in my situation. Thank you for supporting us!

I strongly encourage all state bars to adopt rules in favor of military spouses who are attorneys. Specifically, I would like to see a rule admitting spouses without requiring us to take the bar exam. This could be accomplished through admission on motion or on a temporary admission basis (similar to California’s rule for legal aid attorneys and in house counsel).

As the wife of a Naval officer, I have lived in four states, moved four times and taken two full bar exams at my personal expense. It is extremely expensive to prepare for and take bar exams and then pay dues to maintain various licenses, especially for a single income household. Additionally, it takes an extraordinary amount of time to study for the exam, wait on the results and find employment. I have often found myself close to finding a job at the time we are up for orders (and relocation) again. The situation is extremely frustrating for me. I feel as though I have sacrificed my career and wasted my education.

Military spouses make incredible sacrifices in their service to this country. Giving up a career shouldn’t have to be one of them. With a fairly easy fix, we can provide one set of spouses with a way to continue both their support and their own careers. This isn’t just the right thing to do for the supposes, it isgood policy– the legal profession loses far too many incredible lawyers because of the licensing impediments.

I am an active duty JAG,my husband is a Reserve JAG. We are bith licensed in states without reciprocity with other states. I PCSd this summer, and my husband has been unable to find a federal job, and it appears if he wants to work as an attorney he will have to take another bar exam…unfortunately, by the time he appkues, studies, takes it and gets the results, we will already have moved. I strongly support any action to assist and remedy this situation.

This Resolution makes good sense. By allowing military spouse attorneys to practice law in the states where we are stationed, we contribute to our communities and help build strong military families. I am licensed in Texas, Virginia, and D.C. I wish I could have practiced law in South Carolina during the two years my husband was stationed there. With some simple changes to state bar licensing rules, we have a tremendous opportunity to give back to this country we love!

I am a Navy spouse licensed to practice in California since 2002. Because we have moved four times in the last five years, I haven’t practiced law since 2006. It simply did not make sense for me to attempt to prepare for and take the bar exams in each of the new states: bar admission takes, on average, almost a year when study time and the time spent waiting for results are factored in. Now we are moving back to California, and I am trying my best to search for jobs, but the fact that I haven’t practiced in five years is a major strike against me. Like Amy Barrett, I too feel that I have sacrificed the career I love and wasted an expensive education.

I am deeply proud of being a military spouse. My husband is a Navy JAG, and I consider my support of his career a direct way that I serve my country. Our family has willingly made many sacrifices for my husband’s career including multiple moves and deployments. That being said, it seems unfair that I should be forced to sacrifice my career as an attorney to be a supportive military wife. I truly love being an attorney, and yet this is a profession that is needlessly incompatible with the often nomadic military lifestyle. After multiple state bar exams and being in what feels like a constant state of attempting to network and job search, I long for the opportunity to move to a new jurisdiction and not have to worry about job opportunities being limited by bar admission (an incredibly time-consumming and expensive process). Military spouses attorneys have worked hard in their own right and have so much to offer the workforce. Please give us the opportunity to do so by limiting licensing impediments and, therefore, employment barriers.

My husband left the Navy in 2008 because we faced the prospect of moving to another state where I was not admitted to the bar. It was a decision made together several times throughout our careers, but it was unfortunate that my husband had to put his career aside in order to give mine a shot. Lowering licensing barriers for military spouses could ensure that our military is able to retain its well trained service members.

Current state licensing rules put additional stresses on military families who already sacrifice greatly for this country through frequent deployments and other separations and hardships. Spouses must already deal with the difficult employment environment while stationed overseas. Lowering licensing barriers for military spouses would ensure that spouses who wanted to work during their years stationed stateside could.

My husband and I choose to live apart for five and a half years so that I could finish law school (two years) and begin my legal career. In the three and a half years I practiced in Texas, my husband was stationed in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iraq. Given current licensing restrictions and the cost and time required to study for and take the bar exam, remaining in our native state was the only way I could gain experience at a critical point in my career. Now that my husband is stationed overseas, I have joined him but am unable to find legal employment or volunteer work in my community. I look forward to the day we return stateside and I can work again. However, depending on which state we move to, it may be hard to do that. Please give military spouses the opportunity to contribute to the workforce and society by limiting licensing impediments.

I am a proud military spouse and current law student. I delayed going to law school for many years because I was so unsure about how my professional life could mesh with my spouse’s military life. At the end of my schooling, my spouse’s commitment will be up. Although he wants to continue serving, we may consider leaving the military in order to facilitate both of our careers. The military would lose a highly trained, committed service member. As a family, we would lose the strong military community that we are so proud to be part of. Staying in means facing long stretches of almost certain unemployment for me. I urge the ABA to recognize the barriers that military spouse attorneys face and to accommodate our unique needs. Thank you.

Military spouses and their families often face a difficult decision – either delay or give up their own legal career to continue service to their country, or end the service member’s military career early to allow the spouse to practice a profession that so much has been invested in. This resolution would resolve the problem in many of those cases. As a military spouse of 20+ years, I have had to make that decision many times. Until now, we have chosen to continue our military service at the cost of my legal career. This resolution, if adopted by the ABA and acted upon by states, would mean I will not have to choose the next time the orders come. We could continue serving our country, with the acknowledgment that after 19 years of being licensed and admission to 3 states, I am fully capable of practicing law without the requirement of yet another bar exam.

This is a sensible and modest reform that can do a lot of good for military families.

Some might think that new or revised admission rules are unnecessary because military spouse attorneys can simply waive in on motion in a new jurisdiction, but this option usually does not work for military spouses. Many military moves are overseas. Some tours are so short that the family has already moved to another state before admission in the previous state can occur, thereby causing a year or more where the attorney has not engaged in full time practice. In my case, we moved to a state that lacked a reciprocity provision and so waiving in was not an option. After not practicing for 3 years while on that assignment, I then could not waive into any other jurisdiction because I could not meet the usual requirement that the applicant on motion have engaged in the active practice of law for 5 out of the last 7 years. Moreover, because my state of admission (NY) does not have a provision for attorneys to go on inactive status, I have incurred the full expense of maintaining my NY license for the past 8 years without being able to actually practice law. As others have said, the fix is simple and well-deserved. I urge the ABA to adopt Resolution 108 and each state and territory to follow suit by enacting rule changes to ameliorate the sacrifices our military spouse’s willingly make.

I waited my husband’s entire military career to follow my dream of being an attorney. Even now at 18 years of honorable service, I have still had to change jurisdictions more than once. When you add to the fact that military orders do not come at times that fit the deadlines of each individual state’s bar application deadlines, the cost becomes prohibitive. With assignments only lasting 2-4years at best, developing the tenure required for reciprocity is unimaginable.

I am a military fiancé and law student. I will get married and graduate next year. I am constantly worried about how his career will affect my ability to practice. He will move 3 times within my first 5 years of practice. This resolution and the support it has received so far is very meaningful to me and others in my situation. Thank you for supporting our cause!

All the comments made are wonderful and so true! One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the Looming law school debt that ends up CRUSHING families when the spouse cannot find work. It’s a double whammy of not only being unable to find work in your chosen profession, but then often having to take jobs that steer us away from our careers when we have to take whatever work we can get in order to pay off that crushing debt. It’s an indisputable fact that military personnel do NOT make enough money to pay law school debt while on a single income.

I’m a proud Army spouse of 17 years and a licensed Louisiana attorney for  7+ years.  As a result of my husband’s military service and career, I made a conscious decision not to actively pursue my career/take a bar exam in each and every state we reside because of the time, cost and a number of other factors associated with obtaining and maintaining bar memberships in various states.  Therefore, I have been underemployed due to the non-portabilty of my profession/career.  However, because of the work that MSJDN is doing (thanks in large part to our co-founders, Mary Reding Smith and Judge Erin Masson Wirth) as well as the support we’ve garnered thus far, we have an opportunity to make it better for ourselves and others who will face this issue in the future.  It is worth noting that the progress made in such a short time frame is a true testament to the talent and abilities that military spouses (attorney) possess.  Thanks in advance for your support of military families as well as an opportunity to be heard on this important issue that’s near and dear to our hearts.

My husband and I moved two months after my swearing in ceremony, so I had no opportunity to use my license and gain experience. We will be at Ft. Benning for only 9-12 months, so it would be a waste of time and money to sit for the bar. It’s crucial to build experience a new attorney, but I have to substantially limit my employment options due to my husband’s military service. The current reciprocity rules in most states are inapplicable to a military spouse like me who is newly licensed without the requisite active practice time. States need to seriously consider the hardships military spouse attorneys face so they can take action. I am confident that we’ll see a change in licensing requirements for military spouses if we have the ABA’s support!

I am a military spouse and current law student. My husband will be deployed to Afghanistan during my third year of law school and we will be lucky if he will return before my graduation. We won’t find out where his next duty station will be until well after the bar exam registration date, if we even know before the actual exam date. I do not want to postpone the exam, but as it currently stands, whichever state I choose will be a complete gamble. Resolution 108 would give both my husband and me hope in knowing that I will not have have to retake the bar six months later, and then again each time we move due to his service. While it will still be a challenge to find a new job every few years, this will be one less barrier for those of us who are fighting for justice at home while our spouses are putting their lives on the line daily to defend our country. The support the resolution has received so far is overwhelming and I could not be more hopeful for the positive changes in the future that the ABA could set the foundation for. Thank you for supporting our cause and our troops!

My husband, an Army JAG, and I met volunteering in law school and bonded over our shared commitment to public service. I have been lucky enough to be licensed and employed at our most recent duty station, but we just received orders to move out of state. I now face the decision of whether or not to take the bar in that state, since my home state does not offer reciprocity. The thought that we will have to pay my immense student loan debt with only my husband’s salary is very distressing for me. This resolution, encouraging state bars to look closely at this issue, will help me raise awareness in my home state, and will give me a chance to be a part of the legal community in my new state. All we are asking for is to be a part of the legal workforce, to give us a chance of being a part of the legal community we all worked so hard to be a part of. This is no free pass — we still will have to prove ourselves to employers. But this will allow us a fighting chance.

I am a military spouse and an attorney. I graduated in 2007, passed the bar, worked for 9 months and then we moved. I passed another bar, worked for 12 months and then was laid off. We have now moved again and I am not working because taking three bars in five years is daunting, not to mention the bar dues I have to pay annually really add up!
While so many of my friends from law school can now waive into other states because they have 5 years of continuous practice under their belts, I can not. I love being a lawyer. I have loved every minute of the 19 months I have been allowed to practice. I do not want to have to sacrifice my career for the military, when we already have to give up so much.
I think passing Resolution 108 sends a clear message that our profession supports military spouses and welcomes the opportunity to work along side of them. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

I am a military spouse and attorney. I attended two different law schools to accommodate my husband’s military career. I delayed taking the bar exam for a year, while I worked part time at the Russell County District Attorney’s office so my husband could move from the Air Force to the Army. I recently been admitted to the Washington State Bar, but because my husband’s Army career has been non-traditional, we may be PCS-ing from Ft. Lewis, WA less than 2 years after being stationed there.
Passing Resolution 108 will enable me to continue doing the only thing ever wanted to do – practice law – while also continuing to love and support my husband as he serves our country at home and overseas. Thank you for your support of Resolution 108.

Wonderful to see the ABA supporting military spouses. I’m a former active duty JAG attorney who has not practiced as my husband is still active duty. We’ve moved 6 times in 8 years–making it impossible for me to become licensed and find employment given the pace of our relocations. Now, finally…there might be hope.

THANK YOU for supporting this life-changing resolution.

Those wanting admission on motion should contact the NAAMJP http://www.mjplaw.org They are petitioning the US Supreme Court to grant review of federal district court Local Rules that categorically exclude lawyers from 49 States for general admission privileges; and actively litigating States failure to have admission on motion.

Great way to support military spouses — especially those whose same-sex marriages are not currently recognized as being eligible to receive other benefits under federal law — and for whom gainful employment becomes even more important.

So attorneys who may never have practiced anywhere, who have demonstrated no knowledge of the state’s law/courts/rules, and admittedly may be located in that state for a short time are going to accept cases and money from the public? Who will finish that case when the attorney moves on? How is the public protected from attorneys who do not possess requisite fitness to practice?