I have an interview with JAG this Friday to work as a law school intern. Any advice, anyone working in JAG now, or that has had experience with JAG?
Thanks, I appreciate it, I’d really like to get this intern spot and it is pretty competitive to get into and want any edge I can get.
It would help if you told us which branch. I am not a JAG but I interviewed with and researched both Army and Marine Corps JAG when I was in school.
I don’t know much about their internships, but in terms of what you actually do if you join up after law school, there are differences between the branches. USMC, for example, will send you through all of the regular training, OCS, etc. as if you weren’t a lawyer and were just a normal officer candidate. The others are a bit different and the “military” aspect of the training is more abbreviated - you won’t be shooting grenade launchers.
This would be the Navy, they seem to be the only one that is recruiting where I am. I am not too concerned with the training after law school, it is still 2 years off. The Navy training is not like standard “boot camp” training. It is 5 weeks of basic training in RI with minor PT, mainly designed to give you a feel of what the navy expects and aims for. Followed by 9 weeks of military legal training (i.e. courtroom procedure, military law, etc.)
I am looking for something that may help me be prepared for any questions that I may not expect, questions that I won’t get from other recruiting law firms.
My only advice is to get a better answer to “why do you want this internship” than “only the Navy is recruiting in my area.”
M_P
Yeah I hadn’t thought of that.:rolleyes: Thanks for the advice though.
Thanks for the sarcastic eye-roll, I’m sure you’ll do well in the Navy with an attitude such as that.
M_P
–Option 1–
You really love the military and the opportunity to serve your nation in that way.
You love the structure and discipline of the military and the opportunity to help preserve it.
You’re fascinated by the military justice system, with it’s unique rules, regs, and law, and the experience it will give you.
–Option 2–
You always wanted to carry a gun and send people to prison, but didn’t want to wear polyester to do it.
You’ve loved the Navy since “Top Gun.”
You saw JAG on TV and said, “I can do that.”
You can’t wait to work with guys like Jethro Gibbs. (NCIS)
You heard that JAG is a great option for the bottom 1/3 of graduates, and you want to be at the head of the line.
I am not sure Jag ever had to recruit out of the bottom third. With the legal market as it is, I suspect they can have upper third all day long and then some.
We recently had a paralegal opening and got over 140 complete applications,
about 25 percent of them were from law school grads, most with their license.
When we hire a lawyer in the office, we were typically getting 160+ apps. We have broken 200 with the last round and may break 300 in the next.
To the candidate, I could speak better to your realtive competitiveness if I knew:
undergrad school/major and gpa
law school/gpa and class rank
prior military of your family
geographic/ethnic diversity
willingness to relocate for the position
ability to pass a back round check that is probably the functional equiv. of a SECRET, even for an intern
Modern_Pirate - It was a joke, in response to yours. I’m not some punk kid fresh out of college, I understand respect, authority, and know my place.
SkinTop911 - Thanks for the ideas, I think I’ll use some of option one and,
“You always wanted to carry a gun and send people to prison, but didn’t want to wear polyester to do it.” from option two.
Based on your info, I would think that you are definitely competitive.
Presuming you would be under 37 by the time you graduated law school,
I suspect you would be competitive in any number of series 1811 special agent positions with the federal govt. Your “backround/experiences” mirrors a number of successful special agents with whom I have worked, particularly in the DEA and FBI.