opportunities outside of jag, etc. for military law Forum

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julip

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opportunities outside of jag, etc. for military law

Post by julip » Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:08 pm

is there anyone who has military/legal experience who might have input on ways to find work as attorney for the military branches outside of pursuing the officer/attorney route? or is the exception to meeting jag qualifications jobs that you get through use of waivers? that somehow doesn't sound right. I figured there had to be a lot of legal work required and not all by those who met the strict requirements of jag, etc., inclusive of age restrictions.

shock259

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Re: opportunities outside of jag, etc. for military law

Post by shock259 » Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:46 pm

The armed forces hire some civilian attorneys, probably most often for areas of law that aren't worth having a JAG learn. I'm sure the amount and type of hiring varies by branch. They are classified as civilian federal employees, so you don't have to meet any of the officer requirements. I don't know the process for getting such a job, though. I'm guessing that you go through USAJOBS.


julip

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Re: opportunities outside of jag, etc. for military law

Post by julip » Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:17 pm

thank you both, very helpful :-)

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howell

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Re: opportunities outside of jag, etc. for military law

Post by howell » Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:27 pm

I've seen several routes to civilian attorney positions for the Air Force. A lot of the civilian attorneys were former JAG officers. The base where I worked last summer had an intern program with Mercer. Law students would come work as interns in the contracting section, and it often led directly to positions as civilian contracting attorneys on base, but that was a program unique to that base. I encountered another civilian attorney that started straight out of law school. I believe she was #1 in her class at Cooley.

Getting a civilian attorney job with the Air Force directly out of law school would probably be incredibly difficult most of the time. Another possible route might be a PMF or agency honors program.

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