By Sarah Cable MSJDN members are well aware of the challenges associated with continuing their legal careers while accompanying their service-member spouses from state to state and across the world. One of the biggest hurdles they face is the...
Yesterday, the Military Spouse JD Network (MSJDN) joined with attorney Patricia Elrod Hill, the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, and the National Association of Women Lawyers to file an amici brief in support of a military spouse attorney and...
by Katherine Lee Goyette I recently applied for my fourth law license (a military spouse law license at that!) and realized the experience would have gone a lot smoother had I kept a few things in mind. Of course,...
by State Licensing Director, MSJDN On February 9, 2018, the Supreme Court of the State of Hawai’i adopted Rule 1.17 Limited admission of United States Uniformed Services spouse-attorneys, with an effective date of July 1, 2018. This amendment to...
by Katherine Lee Goyette One of our very own MSJDN members was recently nominated by the Air Combat Command for the 2018 United States Air Force Joan Orr Spouse of the Year Award. It’s a highly prestigious award that...
by Maria Campbell Dear MSJDN Founders: When I showed up at a networking BBQ last September, I hid in the hotel bathroom for 20 minutes. My husband and I had moved to Ft. Campbell less than a week before,...
By Katherine Lee Goyette On March 14, 2017, MSJDN Board member Katherine Lee Goyette attended Governor Rick Snyder’s signing of HB 5288 & HB 5289 (Public Acts 423-424), allowing military spouse attorneys stationed in Michigan with their active duty...
By Emily Macey On March 20, 2017, the Alaska Supreme Court approved a new rule allowing for a waiver to practice law for attorney spouses of active duty military personnel stationed within the State. The new rule, Bar Rule...
On March 14th, MSJDN Treasurer Katherine Goyette was witness to a historic bill signing in Lansing, Michigan. Governor Snyder conducted a ceremonial signing of HB 5288 and HB 5289, assigned Public Act 423-424 (2016), granting military spouse attorneys a temporary...
by Angela M. Allen Unlike many other U.S. jurisdictions, licensing accommodations for the practice of law in Michigan must go through the legislature rather than the judiciary. MSJDN’s previous success in its efforts to achieve adoption of licensing accommodations has...
By Elizabeth Hanning Smith On January 1, 2017, the Ohio Supreme Court adopted amendments to the pro hac vice rules which will benefit military spouse applicants living in the state. Under the amendments, which went into effect the same...
The Kansas Supreme Court adopted a new licensing rule granting a temporary permit to practice law for military spouse attorneys stationed in Kansas alongside their service member. Rule 712A marks the 20th jurisdiction to enact a military spouse attorney licensing accommodation since the Military...
by Thea Pitzen Like my Navy family, many of you reading this may be fans of NCIS, CBS’s long-running and extremely popular action drama series that focuses on the “sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced...
MSJDN was founded in 2011 and will celebrate its 5th anniversary this June. In those 5 years, remarkable change has occurred for military spouse attorneys seeking to continue their careers while accompanying their servicemembers on assignments across the states...
2015 was an incredibly busy and productive year for MSJDN and military spouse attorneys around the globe! January 2015 started with the good news that six military spouse attorneys were nominated for the 2015 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse...
Military spouses who accompany their servicemembers to Tennessee or Fort Campbell, Kentucky, can acquire a temporary license to practice law in Tennessee under a new provision ordered this week by that state’s Supreme Court. The new rule, which goes into...
The Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia recently met to discuss a proposal advanced by the Military Spouse JD Network that would allow military spouse attorneys to gain provisional admission to the state bar. The proposal,...
Dear MSJDNers, This is a bittersweet issue for me to be sending you. For nearly three years now, I’ve served as your trusty Newsletter Editor. Since before there was a Bars and Stripes, before there was a Writer’s Corps or even...
Last year, MSJDN celebrated as the New York State Board of Law Examiners published a military spouse attorney licensing policy. Now, we celebrate again, as Sarah Gardner-Cox has become the first MSJDN member to be sworn in after utilizing...
Dear MSJDN Members, It has been an honor to serve as the President of the Military Spouse JD Network over the past year. MSJDN’s job is to serve our members, our military community, and the legal profession. Starting last June,...
By Sarah Ford On March 17, I attended a luncheon and panel discussion in Nashville, TN hosted by the Lawyers’ Association for Women-Marion Griffin Chapter (LAW). The presentation was conducted by our own Josie Beets, who was joined by...
MSJDN’s efforts and successes continue to gather attention across the country. Catch up on the stories being told about military spouse attorneys and the removal of barriers for employment in the legal profession. In February, the Colorado Supreme Court website...
by Kari-lynn Wenciker MSJDN proudly reports that our licensing efforts are continuing to find success across the country. After recent rule changes in Oklahoma and New York (making it 12 states with military spouse specific accommodations), our efforts continue in over 10 states, including...
We’ve come a long way since our organization was founded by two military spouses in 2011. With members at duty stations around the globe, much of MSJDN’s growth has come through the use of social media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn...
On December 15, 2014, the Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma approved a licensing accommodation for military spouse attorneys moving to the state due to their active duty servicemember’s orders. This new rule makes Oklahoma the twelfth state...
“This is amazing. A group that is sympathetic and understanding of what I am going through!” That was Evelyn Guevara’s reaction when she found Military Spouse JD Network (MSJDN) after googling “military spouse attorney.” Evelyn met her husband in...
Author’s Note: Jennifer McBee was the first person to be admitted to the North Carolina Bar under the Military Spouse Licensing accommodations in January 2014. We sat down with her to discuss her experience, talk about the process, and gather...
MSJDN’s 2014-2015 leadership team – including the Board of Directors for both MSJDN and the Military Spouse JD Foundation, as well as Committee Chairs – met on July 26 and 27 at the historic Army Navy Country Club in...
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...
It has been an exciting few weeks for Military Spouse JD Network, with the announcements of a rule change in Virginia and a military spouse accommodation policy in Massachusetts. And it’s about to get even more exciting! On June 13, 2014, the...
The Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners has voluntarily enacted a military spouse attorney licensing policy as of March 2014. The following message appears online: “The Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners welcomes inquiries and applications for Admission on Motion from attorney spouses of...
Dear MSJDN Members, It is my great honor to serve as the President of the Military Spouse JD Network for 2014-2015. Since joining MSJDN in 2011, my work on behalf of this organization has been among the most gratifying...
By Megan Evans There are many exciting things happening right now for MSJDN on the state rule change front! Since the last update, one state has passed a rule change, one state has an accommodation policy, and more states...
As we reported last week, two MSJDN members are presenting MSJDN’s licensing accommodation proposal to the New Jersey Supreme Court today. We share the remarks of our New Jersey State Directors Jennifer Talley and Katie McDonough on the blog today as...
Our New Jersey team, powerhouses Jennifer Talley and Katie McDonough, will present MSJDN’s petition for rule change to the full New Jersey Supreme Court on May 27. The pair was invited to give comment after their response to the...
On Friday, May 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of Virginia issued an order adopting a new attorney licensing rule aimed at easing the burden on military spouse attorneys seeking to practice law while on orders to military installations in Virginia...
On February 23, Military Spouse JD Network (MSJDN) will be having a brunch at the iconic Austin Club in Austin, Texas. The event, called Deep in the Heart of Texas, is being held to celebrate a year of Texas...
MSJDN is honored to welcome Justice Phil Johnson, an Air Force veteran and current member of the Texas Supreme Court, as our keynote speaker at Deep In The Heart on February 23, 2014. Tickets and tables are available here....
One year ago, in February 2013, Texas became the first state to initiate a licensing accommodation policy for military spouse attorneys without a formal rule change so that it could begin consideration of military spouse applications immediately. The License...
This week, North Carolina MSJDN member Jennifer McBee became the first sworn in and licensed under the military spouse attorney licensing rule in that state. This is her story. by Jennifer McBee The Military Spouse J.D. Network is changing...
Today, the South Dakota Supreme Court issued an order adopting Rule 13-10, a licensing rule for military spouse attorneys. Originally part of a set of bills to provide licensing accommodations to military spouses in other professions, Rule 13-10 was...
As MSJDN continues to grow and develop as an organization, we are frequently asked to provide quantitative data about our members which we don’t have. We are often able to extrapolate data about military families from the Department of Defense and other...
Note: MSJDN is pleased to introduce another member of its new Writer’s Corps, Natalie Wilson. We hope you enjoy her debut installment. Last week, as part of the “Everyone Serves” blog series from Blue Star Families, the BSF network...
This has been a whirlwind of a week for the Military Spouse JD Network, and it’s not over yet! It all started when our ongoing rule change efforts in California were derailed by a piece of legislation, AB 296,...
On Monday MSJDN launched its campaign to kill California AB 296, a bill harmful to military spouse attorneys and their families. Tuesday, MSJDN members, friends, family, and supporters took to the phones to let the bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Don...
Yesterday, we launched our campaign to defeat California Assembly Bill 296, a bill that claims to help military spouse attorneys but Actually creates a harmful precedent for the largest military-populated state. You yelled, you screamed, you shared with your...
Update available HERE. Last week MSJDN achieved another state victory with the passage in Illinois of a licensing accommodation for military spouse attorneys, making it the fifth state to do so. That’s why we were so shocked to hear that California Assemblymember Don Wagner...
Today the Illinois Supreme Court issued a press release outlining several new measures designed to “improve legal services for the disadvantaged in Illinois.” Among those new provisions, which become effective July 1, 2013, is one designed to ease attorney...
MSJDN’s Communications Director Lori Volkman was featured in the News You Can Use Blog run by Pioneer Services this week, at the kick-off of Military Appreciation Month. Highlighting an issue that affects nearly one in three military spouses, including...
On September 27, 2012, Military Spouse JD Network (MSJDN) participated in the Department of Defense State Liaison Office (DSLO) Annual Conference. Through their USA 4 Military Families Initiative, DSLO seeks to engage and educate state policymakers, not-for-profit associations, concerned...