JAG Central will be hosting the next edition of Blawg Review. JAG officers and the military justice system get a bad rap. Some say that "military justice is to justice as military music is to music." In truth, the military justice system is just. Usually JAG officers must have at least three years legal experience before being allowed to defend soldiers charged with crimes: JAG defense lawyers are less likely make rookie mistakes. There are numerous procedural protections, and many constitutional rules of criminal procedure have been codified in the UCMJ. Famed criminal defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey frequently said that an innocent person has a better chance of being vindicated in the military justice system than in the civilian justice system while a guilty person would do better in the civilian system.
I have a few friends in the JAG Corp., and I considered joining JAG
as well. Nine years in the Army Reserves was long enough for me, so I
resigned my commission and was honorably discharged before graduating
law school. (I enlisted when I was 17, and attended Basic Combat
Training the summer before my Sr. year in high school. It was time to
move on.) Had I stayed in the military, there's no question that I'd be a JAG officer.
It's exciting work. JAG officers get to try cases for the
prosecution and the defense. By seeing both sides of the criminal
system, prosecutors tend to be more fair-minded, and defense lawyers
are able to anticipate how the prosecutor might prosecute the case.
JAG officers travel all over the world. A friend of mine served as a JAG officer in Italy. What other law firm would send you to Italy? These days a JAG officer might find himself or herself leading patrols in Iraq. Being a JAG officer is not for the weak-willed.
JAG pays as much as most mid-sized law firms, and has better benefits. A JAG officer can make - once one factors in salary and a housing allowance - from $60,000 to $75,000 within a year of graduating law school. Plus, JAG officers are authorized to take - and indeed, they do take - 30 days of vacation a year. Seventy-five-thousand dollars, full medical benefits, and 30 days of vacation is a pretty good life.
JAG is selective. Not only must a person be intelligent, have a
clean background, pass an intrusive physical, and do well in law
school, he or she must be more physically fit than
her peers. In other words, you'll be serving with an ethical group of men and women.
I look forward to reading the latest Blawg Review at JAG Central.
Hey Mike (Happy Veterans Day),
You make a number of good points. I take home more money now than I did as a third-year associate working for the largest firm in my state.
The vacation time is great, and it's actually used; plus we have a number of federal holidays, and a retirement plan that kicks in well before 62.
Since I returned to active duty I am often asked about how my new job is going. So far my answer has been the same, "I love my job. It's the best kept secret in the legal community, and one of the best decisions I've ever made."
Posted by: Brad | November 12, 2005 at 07:01 AM