As a new law school graduate (and military spouse) in 1992, I had the option to "throw the dice" and pick a state to take the bar in (Mississippi? California? Florida? Virgina? All were contenders) while dealing with costly fees for bar registration in a state I didn't even know I would live in.
With a husband in flight training who was months away from any permanent duty station due to training delays, our permanent "home" announcement was months away. After weathering several deployments and moves, funds ran low, we had a family on the way and I scrapped my dream of becoming a licensed attorney.
Prior to 2012, there was no assistance for military spouse attorneys in any state when they transferred across state lines. This led to many spouses deciding to not take the bar exam, endure family separations in order to stay employed, or choose to move with their spouse and endure underemployment due to licensing red tape. In 2017, Connecticut enacted a rule reducing barriers to practice for military spouse attorneys, thus paving the way for career opportunities for attorneys who are military spouses.
Other professions still lag behind or are caught in a vortex of state regulations. For spouses in professions requiring state-specific licenses—such as teaching, real estate, healthcare, or law—the need to re-certify or meet different state requirements can be both costly and time-consuming. Navigating the time consuming and costly process can be discouraging to military spouses, who rely on employment and are often times single parents to boot.
In my attempt to find employment in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area, I was once told by a prospective employer that they could pay military spouses far less simply because they were a "captive audience". This issue not only delays their ability to enter the workforce after a move but can also discourage some from pursuing their careers altogether.
As President Biden has also noted, it's the military families that make it possible for those to do their job, "While our veterans are the steel spine of this Nation, their families are the courageous heart — they also serve and sacrifice so much for our country."
In 2022, President Biden issued the Executive Order on Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors which called for most comprehensive set of administrative actions in our Nation’s history to support the economic security of military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors. There is still much work to working to be done to better support military and veteran families on everything from making school transitions easier for military children to expanding economic opportunities and improving well-being for military spouses, caregivers, and survivors.
The UConn Law Library, along with UConn students, faculty, and staff, thanks all of our veterans and their families for their courageous service.