Arizona Attorney - March 2014

unfair discrimination during their service
commitments is not new. During World
War I, Congress passed the Soldiers’ and
Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1918 (SSCRA).
The goal of Congress was not to remove
active duty service members from liability
associated with actions against them;
rather, its purpose was to ensure that trial
courts took whatever action was justly
required to ensure that service members
were protected from having their rights
affected solely because of their participa-
tion in active duty service. In 1942, the
SSCRA was amended to include protec-
tions for military dependents and to “avoid
situations in which dependents suffered as
a result of the service member’s period of
service.”
Consistent with the protections afford-
ed military spouses almost a half-century
ago by Congress, on December 10, 2012,
the Arizona Supreme Court approved the
“Military Spouse Exception” Rule 38(i),
a rule change that allows military spouses
to practice law in Arizona without com-
pleting the Arizona Bar examination.

Arizona Supreme Court
Vice Chief Justice Scott
Bales stated:
In adopting the rule,
our Court recognized
that when military
personnel are tem-
porarily posted in
Arizona, the reloca-
tion can pose particu-
lar hardships for their
lawyer spouses, who
generally would be
required to complete
the entire admissions
process in order to
practice law in
Arizona. The new
rule helps support
military families
stationed in Arizona
by allowing lawyer
spouses to be tem-
porarily admitted to
practice here.

Helping Attorneys Who Are Military Spouses

The revised admissions rule applies to military spouses who:

1. have graduated from an ABA approved law school,

2. have been admitted by Bar exam in another state (in good standing),

3. have passed the MPRE and meet other fitness to practice criteria,

4. are a dependent of an active duty military member,

5. are residing in Arizona,

6. have not failed the Arizona Bar exam,

7. have not previously been denied admission in Arizona and

8. will complete a course in Arizona law

Court Rule Aids Attorneys Who Are Military Spouses

time required, which often takes up to a year or more due to the application, character and fitness review, Bar examination, and processing—practicing law while moving alongside an active duty spouse is certainly trying, if not worse.

Recently, there has been a concerted campaign by a group of volunteers in the military community to begin the process of lobbying state courts to create rules to accommodate military spouses. They seek to remove the hurdles associated with Bar certification when assignment of a military member is the sole reason that the spouse desires to practice in a particular state and when they are already Bar-certified elsewhere.

The Military Spouse JD Network
(MSJDN) is an international network of
legal professionals, made up of more than
650 members, dedicated to improving the
lives of military families who support
military spouses. The organization was co-
founded by Erin Wirth, an administrative
law judge with the Federal Maritime
Commission in Washington, D.C., and
Mary Reding, a corporate law attorney
based in Tucson, both advocates for licens-
ing accommodations including Bar mem-
bership without additional examination.
MSJDN provides education about the
challenges facing military families, encour-
ages hiring military spouses, and provides a
support network for attorneys married to
active duty military members.

According to MSJDN, there are currently more than 1,000 military spouses and partners from all branches of the United States Military—Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy—who are Bar-certified attorneys. Combining the increased gender diversity graduating from America’s law schools with the rapid expansion of the dual-income household, the paradigm of the future will continue to include a larger number of servicemembers with a spouse who is interested in pursuing a legal career as they join their partner traveling around the world on various assignments.