My mother-in-law, Judi, is a military spouse. Married in the 1950s to an active-duty servicemember, she raised three kids at bases and towns throughout the country. Every few years, she packed up and moved to a new location, making new friends and finding her way. As the wife of an officer, she was also responsible for attending and hosting social events. I remember that when I first met Judi, her closet was full of colorful gowns with matching shoes. Photos on shelves included images of my in-laws with various government officials.
Even with the active-duty life behind her, the skills she honed as a military spouse remain. Activities and meals are planned. Her house is clutter-free. There is a place for everything, and everything is in its place. We joke that if you put your drink down on a table to use the powder room, when you return, the glass has been washed and returned to the cabinet.
I had a solo law practice for 18 years. As I expanded my business, taking on more clients, it was harder to manage the administrative tasks on my own. Things felt chaotic, and I was afraid of matters falling through the cracks. I needed someone like Judi to keep things on track.
Enter the military spouse. Organized. Flexible. Independent. Resourceful. Diligent. Resilient. And doing it while raising kids? People like this should be running companies all over the country! And yet, many military spouses are unemployed or under-employed.
I met Lindsay Kennedy through an online group. An attorney and military spouse, she already knew the job challenges facing her. She founded Legal Reinforcements, which engages military spouses as freelance attorneys. During COVID, she expanded to include legal staff placement.
On New Year’s Day 2023, I emailed her. “I need to hire help.”
I provided Lindsay a description of the job, but more importantly, I gave her a list of the qualities I needed in a paralegal: Desire to learn. Intellectual curiosity. Attention to detail. Planning skills. Deadline driven. Sense of humor. Takes responsibility. Organized.
She immediately sent me the résumé for Joy, the wife of a Marine stationed in California.
Joy had prior experience in a family law and litigation firm. Yet, the constant moves and being stationed overseas made it difficult for her to advance her career. For scheduling convenience, she was working as a health clerk at her daughter’s school.
I was impressed with Joy’s nonlegal skills. She’d stayed up-to-date with technology and looked for ways to bring improvements to the school’s health office. She was responsible for recordkeeping, including reporting on vaccinations, injuries, and calls to 911, as well as administering medications. Her job involved confidential and sensitive conversations with parents that could get tense.
More than anything, she had a strong desire to get involved and make a difference. With fewer job opportunities, many military spouses volunteer in their community as a way to fill time and have a sense of purpose. Joy told me about taking her Girl Scout troop of 12 first and second graders to Switzerland. Seriously? If she could handle all that, I knew she was the one for the job.
Fast forward two years, and I am now the founder of a boutique firm based in the Boston area with two other partners. We employ three military spouses, two located in California and one in Virginia.
Melissa was already working with my partner Sara and had proven her skill in tracking down information required for litigation. The legal and government bureaucracy doesn’t intimidate her in the least. She has the patience and tenacity to stick to a task until completion. As her husband can be gone for long stretches of time, Melissa and Sara have honed their working relationship to allow Melissa the flexibility she needs as a mom of three to get things done.
Our most recent hire is Molly. Not only is she a military spouse, but she’s a veteran as well. She served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a trained military photojournalist and historian. Part of her job included media relations for all the imbedded journalists in Iraq. However, as a military spouse, she was underemployed. Frequent moves and the inability to attain seniority limited her options.
In remote or overseas locations, there are few work opportunities for military spouses. In the education and medical fields, certification may be required. While there has been some progress, certifications are not always reciprocated between localities. Other available jobs are often minimum wage, such as being the clerk at the base commissary or base exchange. There are long waiting lists for affordable day care, often exceeding the time the family is stationed. With rising day care costs, many military spouses decide the job is not worth the small income it generates.
But the hardest part of the lifestyle is losing the flexibility that a support system allows. As Molly points out, the spouse is the one to respond to every call. Got a sick kid or some other emergency arises? The military member can’t step away, leave early, or simply “call in.” Their entire job is to provide readiness and safety for the country. And without friends and other family members who live nearby, it all falls to the military spouse.
Remote work became more popular with COVID. Industries, especially in the legal field, recognized that work could be done remotely. The “in-office presence” was not always required. Current technology makes functions such as telephone calls and document sharing seamless. Even if meetings are not in person, software such as Zoom can get the job done. Lawyers can meet and, in some states, attend court hearings online.
Surveys showed that clients actually preferred the flexibility offered by a virtual law firm. Calls are answered, issues resolved, costs managed, and clients are satisfied. The challenge? Putting together the right team. Ask any legal recruiter and they will confirm: Finding staff with the skills and personality for the job is challenging.
This is where the military spouse can shine. These people, usually women, have professional experience and are eager to learn. The skills and traits they possess make them ideal for working in the legal field or any industry where organization and attention to detail are required.
In return for flexibility, military spouses are willing to grow with an organization and develop new skills. Turnover is reduced, and in fact, future hiring becomes easier. Military spouses are connected to others in their community who share the same skill set. Business owners can quickly find great folks already vetted by their peers, saving time and money. And even if a military spouse must leave their position, those connections can make hiring easier.
Hiring a military spouse is like unlocking the genie in the bottle. Magic! Knowing my mother-in-law, I have no doubt my she could run a law office. No client would ever be left behind.
