After the JAG Corps: Navigating Your Career Progression

As a young officer, Jennifer was told that that her job with the Naval Support Group Activity at Fort Meade was not conducive to long-term success for a career in the Navy JAG Corps. Taking the hint, Jennifer started applying for jobs, but having made a good impression on a civilian attorney with whom she often collaborated, Jen landed at the National Security Activity, where she has been for over two decades.

In this episode, Rachel Flannery, U.S. Army Reserve, takes us through her career progression from the Active Component to a career as a National Security Attorney at the Department of Homeland Security, via Georgetown and an LLM, in pursuit of her goal to "Pivot With Intention."

This week, we hear from former Marine, steelworker, FBI agent, Navy JAG, NCIS special agent, counter-intelligence officer, volunteer, and fisherman, John Smallman. From investigating crimes to prosecuting them, John has had a dynamic and interesting career. Full of great sea stories and laughs, there is no better way to close-out the year than talking to John about his career.

In this episode, we hear from Shelby Hladon whose desire to spend more time with her sons has led to a post-military career as a volunteer, especially when it comes to youth and veterans.

In this episode, Patrick Corteau shares his journey from serving as a judge advocate in the Air Force to securing a position with Greenberg Traurig, in its Minneapolis, MN, office.

In this episode, I talk to Matthew Dursa, former Navy JAG, about his journey in overcoming a tendency to overthink things, which he shares in his new book, “Reading This Book Won’t Help You: Doing the Work Will.” A copy can be purchased on Amazon at https://a.co/d/a8AQUDN.

In this episode, Michael shares how he leveraged his active duty experience as an Air Force judge advocate to teaching in the classroom, both while still serving and after retirement.

As a probationary employee with the Navy Office of General Counsel in 2025, Joe was informed he would likely be laid off as part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to curb the size of the Federal Government. When offered deferred resignation, Joe saw it as an opportunity to join private practice to enable him to return to doing the things he enjoyed doing as a Marine Corps JAG, including Legal Assistance and Litigation.

In this episode, Joe takes us through his journey, including waving into the Virginia bar.

Joe mentions a few of Slack-type groups that he finds helpful, including:

1. ​ LawyerSmack (sidebar.net), a private community for attorneys interested in discussing practice-related issues with their peers in real time. ($199/year);

1. ​ Best Era (https://bestera.com/)($365/year).

1. ​ InnerCircle (inner circle.ernietheattorney.net/feed), which deals with legal tech issues.

In this episode, Holly Cook takes us through her career progression from the Army JAG Corps to the American Bar Association where she continues serving and advocating on issues that are in the public interest.

On July 3, 3021, A. Williams sat down with me (via Zoom) to talk about her decision to transfer from the active component of the U.S. Army, and the importance of networking and doing your research as you pursue a job outside of the military.  Additionally, as the Executive Director of the Judge Advocates Association, Amanda talked about the annual Jobs for JAGs workshop (which was just held this month) as well as the resources and networking opportunities with the American Bar Association.