The Military Spouse JD Network is a volunteer-run organization dedicated to supporting military families in the legal profession. An active Board of Directors oversees all of MSJDN’s programs and engagements that are then put into action by our committee leadership. Our Board and Committee volunteers work hard to keep the organization moving forward, meeting the needs of our members, and improving the lives of military families. MSJDN is very pleased to introduce our new leadership for the 2018-2019 year, and all are welcome to meet the new board at the 2018 MSJDN Annual Reception on May 17, 2018 at 6pm in Washington D.C.!
President: Katherine Lee Goyette
Katherine Lee Goyette is an Associate Attorney at Fendley & Etson in Clarksville, Tennessee, practicing in the areas of criminal defense, family law, estates & trusts, and personal injury. Formerly, she prosecuted in southern Colorado as a Deputy District Attorney under a military spouse law license. Prior to that, Katherine worked as a legislative attorney for the Kansas Legislature for five years. Katherine has served as co-chair of the Diversity Committee of the Kansas Bar Association and is actively involved with MSJDN, having previously served on the board as Treasurer and helping with rule change efforts in Kansas, West Virginia, and New Mexico. In 2016, Katherine was awarded the A Community Organization for Victim Assistance Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Service on Behalf of Crime Victims and also named as the AFI Military Spouse of the Year Fort Carson. She married an Army field artilleryman, and is licensed in Kansas, D.C., SCOTUS, formerly Colorado, and currently has a military spouse law licensure application before the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners.
Immediate Past President: Libby Jamison
Libby Jamison has been an active member of MSJDN since 2012, including two years on the Board as Communications Director from 2013-2015. Libby works with the Department of Veterans Affairs as counsel at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. In 2014, she was recognized by Jacksonville Area Legal Aid for Outstanding Pro Bono service and by the Jacksonville Junior League with their Community Service award; in 2015, she was named as the AFI Military Spouse of the Year for Naval Station Newport. Recently, she was appointed to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel and the San Diego County Bar Association’s Servicemembers Civil Relief Act committee. She is married to a Navy helicopter pilot; his career has taken them to California, Florida, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Libby is admitted to practice in California, Washington State, and before the Supreme Court of the United States.
President Elect: Karen Scanlan
Karen is an attorney licensed in Illinois and is a native of Chicago. She is married to a (retired) Army Simulations Officer. Before becoming an Army wife, Karen practiced law with several small firms in and around Chicago. Karen has been involved with MSJDN since 2011 and is committed to its mission of improving the lives of military spouses in the legal profession. Most recently, Karen has served as the Co-State Director for Florida for MSJDN’s State Licensing Committee, overseeing the efforts to enact a military spouse attorney licensing rule in the Sunshine State. Most recently, Karen served as the State Licensing Director for the MSJDN Board, managing the MSJDN licensing initiative nationwide. She is also past board member with the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations, serving as Co-Chair of the Awards Committee (2017-2018). Karen and her husband cheer on the Chicago Cubs from their Miami home with their four sons.
Governance Director/Secretary: Brooke Geiger Nattkemper
Brooke is an attorney currently licensed in Florida, with a license pending in Kansas thanks to the recent rule changes in the Sunflower State. She was sworn into the United States Supreme Court in October 2017. Brooke was involved with the rule change efforts in Kansas early on, and it was during that time that she developed a deeper desire to serve MSJDN and the attorneys and families it impacts as much as she could. She has been a member of the Communications and Finance Committees for MSJDN. Brooke also volunteers as an advisor for the local Kappa Delta chapter at Kansas State University. She is married to an Army infantryman and has a toddler daughter, making the balancing act of military spouse life an interesting task at times. Brooke has a background in litigation, immigration, and dependency, but is excitedly expanding her knowledge base to include estate planning, commercial transactions, and property law. Brooke is a graduate of the University of North Florida and Stetson University College of Law.
Treasurer: Kelley Scrocca
Colleen “Kelley” is licensed to practice in 6 states (and took the bar in ALL of them). She graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School and then went on to get her LLM in Estate Planning from the University of Miami. She started practicing law for a boutique firm in Philadelphia where she specialized in small estates and estate administration. She then moved to a big firm in Wilmington, Delaware, where she worked with high net-worth clients, provided document drafting and review to large banks and trust companies specifically to take advantage of Delaware’s favorable trust laws, and worked on a myriad of other estate and tax related projects. A few years later she met her military husband. She quit her law job and moved with him to Korea. Since then she has moved 5 times, travelled to 16 countries, and had 3 kids. Currently, she is living at Ft. Bragg preparing for a new assignment in Germany. Kelley is active in community chorus and loves hiking, geocaching, and reading.
Treasurer Elect: Kirsten Jones
Kristen Jones is a graduate of Dartmouth College and George Mason University Law School. She has practiced as an Associate Attorney with the Moller Law Group in Woodland Park, Colorado, as well as Field Counsel for the Law Offices of Skrabo & Atkins in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Formerly, she’s served as a Assistant Attorney General for the Wyoming Office of the Attorney General and as a Judicial Law Clerk for Fairfax Circuit Court, Virginia. In the summer of 2018, she is moving with her Airman, two sons, and dog from Charlottesville to Dayton and thanking her lucky MSJDN stars for Ohio’s new licensing rule.
Communications Director: Maria Campbell
Maria is a litigation attorney for Bone McAllester Norton PLLC in Nashville, Tennessee. She strives to do good work for her clients and the community. This California native received her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California and her juris doctor from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. She previously worked for the firms DLA Piper and Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo. Maria left her Southern California roots for the first time last year to follow her husband who is a captain in the Army and a West Point graduate. They are currently stationed at Ft. Campbell and live in Clarksville, TN. Maria was one of the first to take advantage of Tennessee’s Military Spouse Licensing Law, enacted in early 2016, which grants a Tennessee law license to military spouses who are licensed in another state.
Community and Events Director: Allison Chersicla
Allison Chersicla is passionate about using her law degree in the public service. She started her legal career on active duty in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps at Fort Benning, Georgia and Fort Bliss, Texas. She served in various roles including: administrative law attorney, special assistant US attorney, chief of legal client services, claims attorney and field screening officer. Allison hails from New York and is a graduate of SUNY Buffalo Law School and Fordham University, where she met her husband, an active duty Army Infantry officer. She is honored to serve her fellow military spouse attorneys as MSJDN’s Community and Events Director and looks forward to fostering community amongst the members and building on the tremendous foundation that MSJDN has established.
Homefront to Hired Director: Alex Spisak
Alex is an attorney at a large DC law firm where his practice involves mass complex tort litigation with a focus on product liability. He works with a team of attorneys serving as national counsel for a fortune 100 company in the defense of its nationwide litigation docket. Alex maintains an active pro bono practice, representing clients seeking asylum in the United States and volunteering at the Washington DC Landlord-Tenant Resource Center.
Membership Director: Dawn Gile
Dawn Gile has been a member of MSJDN since 2012 and has served on the Justice for Military Families committee, the pro bono initiative of the Military Spouse JD Foundation. She has been in private practice for approximately ten years and is presently an attorney with MacDonald Law Group, LLC, where her practice focuses on complex civil litigation, toxic torts, and insurance defense. She is the proud spouse of an Army soldier, with whom she has two girls. Originally from Illinois, she and her family now reside in Maryland. Dawn also volunteers her time by serving as a director on the Rockford University alumni association board. In the past, she has also served as the leader of her husband’s unit’s family readiness group. Dawn is admitted to practice law in Illinois, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Pro Bono Director: Tricia Petek
Tricia Petek is a native of Montana and a graduate of the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana. She began volunteering with MSJDN and Justice for Military Families in June 2015 as an Intake Coordinator, and became the program’s Lead Intake Coordinator in March 2016. Tricia is licensed in Kansas, Missouri, and Montana, and previously practiced Family Law in Kansas and Missouri. Tricia’s spouse is an Air Force officer and they have two young children. Her family is currently stationed in Germany, where Tricia also volunteers with a spouses’ organization and the parent-teacher association at her son’s school.
State Licensing Director: Karl Gerner
Karl is an attorney licensed in the District of Columbia, originally from Saratoga, New York. His practice focuses on privacy and telecommunications, with a background in commercial litigation. He is married to a Submarine Officer stationed in Washington, D.C. Karl has been involved with MSJDN since 2015 and is committed to educating the legal profession about the unique and desirable skills military spouse attorneys possess. Most recently, Karl served as the State Director for Utah for MSJDN’s State Licensing Committee, overseeing the efforts to enact a military spouse attorney licensing rule in the Beehive State. He is also a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and the Federal Communications Bar Association.
At-Large: Leslie Walter
Leslie Walter is a Texas-licensed attorney who advised in the area of Homeland Security compliance before spending more than four years in the Air Force JAG Corps. She currently works as a civilian Senior Program Manager for the Air Force while continuing her JAG commitment in the Air Force Reserve. Her husband, Bryan, is an Air Force instructor pilot at Pensacola Naval Air Station. They have one daughter, Cora.
_____________________
MSJDN proudly welcomes this new Board of Directors to lead our many efforts into the next year. If you are a member interested in volunteering, please visit the committees page for more information and then reach out to the committee leader to get started. Our successes are only possible thanks to volunteer power!