It has been a very busy past few weeks in the world of rule changes, as we saw several of MSJDN’s long-time efforts come to fruition around the country. Two states passed formal rule changes, and two states enacted policies by which the licensing authority may consider military spouse attorney waivers on a case-by-case basis:

Effective March 2014, Massachusetts has enacted a policy by which military spouses may seek a waiver of the state’s practice requirement, to be considered by the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners on a case-by-case basis. More information about the waiver process can be found here.

On June 13, 2014, the Colorado Supreme Court passed a licensing accommodation rule for military spouse attorneys, and that rule becomes effective September 1. More information about Colorado’s new rule can be found here.

On July 25, 2014, the New Jersey Supreme Court passed a licensing accommodation rule for military spouse attorneys, after work by MSJDN that included testimony by two members before the New Jersey Supreme Court. The New Jersey rule becomes effective on January 1, 2015. You can read more about the new rule, and MSJDN’s efforts in new Jersey here.

Last but certainly not least, New York has enacted a policy, similar to that in Massachusetts, by which the Board of Law Examiners may consider, on a case-by-case-basis, requests to waive the state’s time-in-practice requirement. To read more about the New York policy, and the efforts in New York that led up to it, click here.

With the addition of those listed above, there are now eleven states around the country that have some form of licensing accommodation for military spouse attorneys. And there are currently efforts underway in many other jurisdictions to continue adding to the list. To make all of the rule changes easier to follow, MSJDN has a new Rule Change Map to track our efforts around the country.

Which state will be next?