| Navy's Career Legal Program |
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The US Navy has in place a career legal program. The program has been designed under the aegis of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) office. Under the program, not only can Navy officers double as lawyers for the Navy and help in the cause of justice, but even civilian law students can also participate in it for their own benefit.
While Navy officers can get an opportunity to receive training in law and become its advocate, students currently studying law in US law schools can also further their ambitions immediately through a JAG Corps Student Program. Besides these initiatives JAG also has a legal career option for already licensed attorneys of which currently about 750 are its members. Under the JAG Corps Student Program (SP), law school students can participate in the US Navy's legal career program as inactive Navy Reserve staff. They can later get an option to become an active duty Navy judge advocate. This is after they pass out from law school, bar admission, pass out from the five week long Navy Officer Development School (ODS) and become a licensed attorney. They need to also complete a Basic Lawyer Course (BLC) lasting nine weeks and a one week course in Basic Operational Law Training (BOLT). These two training initiatives are to be undergone at the Naval Justice School (NJS) in Newport, Rhode Island. Eligibility criteria for the SP include being a US citizen with a good moral character. They include maximum age of joining active duty of 42 years. A student must have passed LSAT (Law School Admission Test). He/she must have either completed at least one year in an ABA (American Bar Association) accredited law school. Alternatively, he/she must be a law graduate who has not yet taken up the first available bar exam after graduation. A student, who is doing a part-time law course in law or is a matriculate in a dual degree law program, must be within 2 years of completing the requirements of the law degree. Besides these requirements, the eligibility criteria include the physical requirements envisaged for a commission into the US Navy. Licensed attorneys can receive appointment as judge advocates in the Navy through a small induction Direct Appointment (DA) Program. About 5 licensed attorneys are inducted into the Navy's legal cell each year. The eligibility criteria for the program include being a US citizen of good moral character and the requisite physical standards for a commission into the US Navy. You need to be a law graduate from an ABA accredited law school and your age needs to be less than 42 years at the time you are commissioned into the Navy. Besides these initiatives, the US Navy provides Navy officers the option of becoming Juris Doctors through the Law Education Program (LEP). It is basically a law training program for Naval officers in which about seven officers are inducted each year. Finally, the US Navy also has a program of law and paralegal internship in place. The internship program offers credit to law students with direct litigation experience but is totally honorary in nature because of funding constraints. Related Articles
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