If you're a financial advisor seeking experienced legal help, then Uncle Sam wants you – to hire a military spouse!
While the national unemployment rate stands below 4 percent, the unemployment rate for military spouses is a staggering 21 percent, with more than 90 percent being women. Because they are often forced to move around the globe every 18 to 24 months, these women are faced with unique challenges, not only in finding employment, but om locating housing, schools and medical care for their families as well.
Suzie Scanlon Rabinowitz, founder of SRD Legal Group, places military spouses, primarily lawyers, in wealth management and law firms. A lawyer herself, Rabinowitz started the company in 2014 after pitching Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses program with a legal staffing business idea. It was during those conversations that she arrived at the idea of launching a woman-owned, virtual law firm to create flexible job opportunities for women.
Three years later, a chance meeting in Washington with an American service member whose attorney wife was unable to practice outside her home state spurred the notion of concentrating on the placement of military spouses. At last count, SRD Legal Group has 32 military spouse lawyers out of a staff of 115.
And Rabinowitz said her clients love working with military spouses because of their professionalism, energy and ability to work in teams.
“They are really excited about working with military spouses, and many of our clients have their own military spouse and veterans hiring initiatives. Blackstone, for example, has an extraordinary military spouse and veterans hiring initiative across their portfolio companies. They've hired over 100,000 veterans, military spouses and caregivers since 2013,” she said.
Rabinowitz added that Goldman Sachs also successfully launched a veterans integration program, and "they are really enthusiastic about working with a law firm that cares about social responsibility."
She does highlight the need for clients to be somewhat flexible due to the often transitory nature of military life. Still, she says her legal team never let anything fall through the cracks.
“They work together in teams really well, and so we're able to accommodate military spouses who work in different time zones because our clients never sleep,” said Rabinowitz. “We have people wherever the sun is shining.”
For more information about hiring veterans or military spouses, Rabinowitz suggests advisors go to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or the Military Spouse J.D. Network, a bar association for military spouses.
“These are terrific organizations who can provide lots of support,” she said.
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