Legal education in the United States occurs at the graduate level.

After completing university studies leading to the award of a four-year Bachelors Degree in any discipline, a person must pursue legal studies for three additional years. After finishing law school, the student must then pass the bar examination, which is administered by each state or territory individually. Being admitted in a state like Texas or Ohio, does not allow the lawyer to engage in the practice of law outside the state in which they were admitted. However, military lawyers are free to practice law in any military facility in the country or the world.

Most JAGs join the military after completing law school and passage of the bar exam in one or more of the states or U.S. territories. After being commissioned in the United States Army Judge Advocate Generals Corps, most of these lawyers begin their careers in the rank of first lieutenant. Six months later, after completion of initial training, they are normally promoted to the rank of Captain. Initial training for new Judge Advocates includes ten weeks of classroom instruction on the military legal system followed by six weeks of non legal army officer training. Most Judge Advocates remain in the rank of Captain for at least seven years before being promoted to the rank of Major.

A small group of legal officers come from the Funded Legal Education Program, a highly competitive scholarship that offers an opportunity for line officers to obtain a legal education completely paid for by the army. While obtaining their education, these officers remain on active duty and continue to accumulate time in service (just as if they were serving in any other assignment). These officers are entitled to receive their full salaries and all costs of tuition at a State University. JAGs usually serve in the capacity of legal advisers of the command in which they are assigned. In this role, they provide legal advice in a wide variety of disciplines including administrative law, procedural law, public international law, environmental law, criminal law, employment law, commercial law, and civil law. JAGs are also responsible for the administration of the military justice system and code, serving as prosecutors, defense advocates and military judges.

The body of lawyers and judges in active service of the U.S. Army is led by "The Judge Advocate General (TJAG), a Lieutenant General who is the senior military lawyer in the Army. The JAG Corps leadership also includes a Major General who is the Deputy Judge Advocate (DJAG) and a group of high command composed of four Brigadier Generals.

Most law offices at an installation level, General Corps and Divisions, are structured as follows: the Staff Judge Advocate, who serves as the principal legal adviser to the commander of their unit, the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate who acts as the second legal adviser for the command. The remaining office staff is divided into four sections, each headed by a Section Chief. Each section chief has a number of lawyers under his/her responsibility, who are dedicated exclusively to practice in that sections area of law. The four sections are: Military Justice,

International and Operational Law, Administrative Law, and Legal Assistance.

One of the most crucial components of our military justice system is our defense lawyers. These attorneys are assigned to the Trial Defense Service Command (TDS) for a minimum of two years. Most of the attorneys assigned to Trial Defense Service have extensive trial and criminal law experience. Their chain of command, unlike other Army lawyers, is centralized and reports directly to the Chief of TDS in Washington, DC. This allows the TDS counsel to zealously represent their clients without worrying about the prospect that being rated by the same senior officer that rates military prosecutors and advises the commander. Each legal officer must spend a period of 18-24 months in each section before being promoted to Major. The percentage of legal officers who enter higher ranks like Major and Lieutenant Colonel are quite high. This type of career progression of ensures that every military officer is a generalist who knows the practical and theoretical aspects of each of the areas of concentration. This type of career progression allows them to accumulate the appropriate tools so that when they achieved the rank of Major, Colonel, or General, the breath of legal expertise allows them to support the strategic needs of the military high command. The military lawyer is a key tool in the arsenal of commanders at every level of command. In the United States Army, few members of staff are more respected and appreciated by commanders. At the brigade level units are normally assigned three judge advocates. These include the Brigade Judge Advocate who serves as the principal legal adviser to the Brigade commander, a Trial Counsel who is in charge of military justice for the brigade, and a third lawyer who is responsible for providing legal services to the soldiers when the brigade is in an operational environment.

This is a general explanation of the structure of our body of lawyers and military judges. There are other ways to structure a legal office, as in the case of a military hospital or a regiment, but over 90% of branches will follow the structure explained above. We tried to keep this review as short as possible, we have focused on the role of officers in the system, it is important to note that our institution is also composed of civilian lawyers, Soldiers, NCOs and civilian paralegals, they all play an extremely important role in our organization and we could not accomplish our goals without them.

It was a pleasure to talk and give a brief overview of the structure of the U.S. JAG Corps, thank you and I leave with great respect