Mary Reding and the MSJD Network have been hard at work bringing JD military spouse issues to the forefront of the Conference of Chief Justices. Backed by the American Bar Association and the White House, Mary Reding, the MSJD Network, and a team of nationwide lawyer volunteers have educated bar associations nationwide about the need for more flexible practice rules for military spouse lawyers.
On July 30, 2012, the Conference of Chief Justices adopted a policy that calls on states to remove burdensome bar admission rules for lawyer military spouses. The resolution encourages states to allow military spouse attorneys to practice as they move from state to state without being required to gain admission to each state bar, as long as the attorneys remain admitted in good standing in at least one jurisdiction and maintain competency and education standards.
ABA Now reports: “Here we have leaders of our courts, the jurists in each state who ultimately determine the rules governing the practice of law. We are ecstatic that they are urging each of their state bars to put forth the very rule changes we proposed,” said Mary Reding, president of the MSJDN.”
Montage Legal Group proudly supports military spouse lawyers, including Montage freelance attorneys Mary Reding, Jessica Coffin, Sara Mostafa-Ray, Tracey Angelopoulos, and Amy Guldner.
Many of Montage Legal Group’s law firm clients also strongly support military spouse lawyers. West Seegmiller of the Seegmiller Law Firm in Newport Beach chose to work with Jessica Coffin in part because she is a military spouse attorney. Seegmiller comments, “Jessica is a bright attorney with excellent credentials. The fact that she’s trying to continue her legal practice while her husband is deployed to Afghanistan made her an easy choice for my firm, and I’m happy I did. She has definitely been an asset to me and my clients.”
Congratulations to Mary Reding and the Military Spouse JD Network!