CBA Record

Y O U N G L A W Y E R S J O U R N A L

HOW YOU CAN SERVE THOSE WHO SERVED Not Just JAG By Edward M. Farmer

S ince September 11, 2001, hundreds of thousands of service members in the Reserves and National Guard have been called to active duty to fight in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations throughout the world. When these service members are called to duty, they must leave their civilian lives behind, pick up a weapon, and go serve where Uncle Sam instructs. You may be under the impres- sion that the military’s lawyers, the Judge Advocate General Corps, handle the legal needs of these service members. However, this could not be further from the truth. Civilian attorneys are often in the best

position to handle the legal issues that affect National Guard and Reserve mem- bers. In fact, the legal issues of veterans and service members span many legal areas, including: employment law, land- lord-tenant issues, consumer collections, contract law, social security, and other civil litigation. With tens of thousands of Reservists and National Guard members in the Chicagoland area, you may already have a client with a legal issue unique to the citizen soldier. Consider if your client, PFC Brown, is a member of Army National Guard and is being deployed to Iraq for a year. She asks

you to help put her affairs in order before she leaves next week. The scenarios below involving PFC Brown illustrate that no matter what area of law you practice, a National Guard or Reserve member may be in need of your services. Landlord-Tenant Issues PFC Brown recently signed a lease for a new apartment. She will be deployed before the lease is up. Will she be able to get out of the lease? What if she cannot afford the rent and the landlord begins eviction proceedings? The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”) includes a “military orders

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