After the JAG Corps: Navigating Your Career Progression

Ross Booher did one tour in the Navy JAG Corps before returning to Tennessee and entering private practice. He then launched Latitude Legal (latitudelegal.com), a firm that specializes in matching legal departments with qualified lawyers, paralegals, legal operations professionals, and compliance specialists. Whether looking for contract work or work-to-hire, companies like Latitude offer another...

As you will hear in this episode, Matt Schultz and his wife made the decision to leave the Navy and move to Nashville, TN, where she landed a job at Vanderbilt University.  Matt discovered that finding work as a non-native out-of-state lawyer was "a rough slog." While he did have interviews, those interviews never resulted in an offer. Nonetheless, he found the JAG alumni network to be consid...

I met Thomas Eybl this past fall as we were both members of FourBlock's 2022 Washington, D.C. cohort. This past Saturday, in just his 7th day of retirement, he messaged me to let me know that he had received an offer from T-Mobile.  As this was the first time a colleague and listener had let me know about an offer during the life of this podcast, I asked Thomas to share the story of his career pro...

Happy New Year! Chad Jespersen retired from the United States Air Force in June 2021.  With the COVID 19 pandemic ramping up as he was preparing to transition out of the service, he was forced to find innovative ways to network, which he did, including extensive use of Zoom and other online tools to meet people who could help him with his goal to find his next career.  What was clear fro...

When I first launched this podcast and was soliciting volunteers, Paul Janoff was among the first to raise his hand and volunteer to come onto this show.  For one reason or another, however, we never got around to chatting until December 16, 2022.  I think it is the perfect show to closeout the year.  Paul offers a positive message of what awaits those of on active duty, which comes...

Merry Christmas.  Today, on the 365th day since releasing the trailer for this podcast, we talk to U.S. Army JAG veteran James "Jimmy" Trieschmann who tells about his career progression from active duty to a civilian military justice appeals practice before building a nationwide VA disability ratings appeals practice.  James also provides a primer on the VA disability claims process, a must for bo...

In today's episode, Shane Cooper details his very quick and unexpected journey to becoming the Associate Dean for Administration and Enrollment at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.  Believing that it was unlikely his application would advance, let alone that he would get the job, Shane found himself a clear front runner and had yet to tell Navy JAG Corps leadershi...

Good morning! Start your GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY! Saturday off with another episode of After the JAG Corps!  Today, I talk to Alison Atkins, who served just over 20 years in the Army, both as an MP and then as a JAG.  Following her retirement in 2020, Alison first worked with Capital One before moving onto U.S. Bank where she serves as Assistant General Counsel and Vice President and Chief Cy...

In this episode, Kelli Hooke shows that applying for a job online can indeed result in employment.  While stationed at Fort Belvoir, Kelli talks about how she saw an ad for a position with T Mobile in Seattle, for which she was ultimately hired.  Kelli shares her thoughts on what it is like to work for a major tech company, and how working as a corporate counsel is a lot like being an SJ...

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today, Scott Felder, a retired Army judge advocate and partner with Wiley Rein LLP in Great Falls, VA, talks about what may be the oldest digital judge advocate network, known as the Military Legal Professionals Network or MLPN.  Scott took over administration of the network this year and was gracious enough to talk to me about how what it is, how it came about, and...

In today's podcast, I talk to Jordan Walerstein, who leveraged his time as a member of the U.S. Army JAG Corps to working in the area of technology and security after a brief stint with the Department of Justice.  Jordan is a wealth of knowledge, and provides his perspectives on the value of continued military service in the Army Reserves, USAJobs, the challenges associated with immediately g...

Mark Fava is a 30-year Navy veteran and an accomplished aviation attorney, and although he credits everyone's favorite JAG and friend to all (Hank Molinengo) with being a critical enabler in his career success, never served as a JAG. Nonetheless, his background as a career Reserve naval aviator and attorney working in both law firms and at Boeing gives him a unique position to provide an outside p...

In this episode, we hear from retired Navy Captain Scott Thompson, who currently serves as the Director of DoD's SOCO. Scott and I were classmates in the Naval Justice School's basic lawyer course (Class 94020) from January to March 1994, and then spent two weeks together assigned to USS STUMP (DD 978) where we got our first exposure to the Fleet. Scott went onto hold a number high-visibility jobs...

Mike Maffei served in active duty in the Navy JAG Corps for 4.5 years before leveraging his experience as a trial and appellate defense counsel to land a job as an assistant prosecutor with the DA's office in San Francisco, where he had clerked during law school. After a stint with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mike is now a senior security counsel with Google. His LinkedIn profile is found at https...

Don Koenig left the Navy JAG Corps as a lieutenant commander, going from manning the Administrative Law Division's Standards of Conduct and Ethics branch to standing up a healthcare system's corporate responsibility office as it's initial compliance officer.  From there, he became the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer as well as the President of a Level I trauma center and now s...

In this episode, Major Brooks Rose tells us about the stand-up of a virtual Military Officers Association chapter exclusively for judge advocates, active and retired, providing another avenue for networking. For more info, email Brooks at moaajavc@gmail.com

Drew Massucco and I were classmates in the basic lawyer course at the Naval Justice School in 1994,  After a short stint on active duty, Drew transitioned to the Reserves, but ended up spending approximately one-half of the last 28+ years on active duty stints.  When not deploying to Afganistan, the Horn of Africa, and GTMO, Drew served as a prosecutor in the US Attorney's offices in Pue...

BG Gross retired in 2015 after 30 years of service. In this episode, he talks about the mental process of transitioning from the military, the importance of finding oneself and what one wants to do after military service. BG Gross’s Post-military has been as diverse as his active-duty career with stints at a law firm, as a general counsel, teaching, serving as a consultant, and as a highly-qualifi...

This week, I talk to retired United States Air Force Colonel Dawn Zoldi who became the U.S. military's foremost expert on legal matters relating to the domestic operation of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones and then parlayed that expertise into a post-government career as an entrepreneur, business owner, consultant, speaker, writer, and podcaster among other things.   I am really excited ab...

As military officers, we aspire to be viewed by our contemporaries and subordinates as a good or effective leader.  And as we prepare to leave the service, many of us (me included) will often include "Leader" somewhere on our LinkedIn profile or assert it in a resume.  But what does leadership look like and how does one quantify it during a job interview?  I talked Sean Georges, a former U.S. Mari...

CAPT Kevin O'Neil, JAGC, U.S. Navy (Retired), was serving as a military judge, a job which he absolutely loved, when he was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer and began a long and courageous battle for his health. Medically retired in 2015 and finally turning a corner in his health battle, Kevin realized he was bored in retirement and found a way to return to the bench as an...

David Bean served less than 5 years as an Army JAG, but, as he explains in this podcast, the experiences he gained during while wearing the uniform have served him well as he has moved from "Big Law" to corporate law.  David takes us through his year-long search for a job (which included many rejections), how former JAGs of all services were always willing to give him a hand or introduce him...

FourBlock is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to supporting separating/retiring service members in their transition from military service to meaningful civilian careers. In this episode, Eric Stetson, a retired Army officer, gives us the gouge on FourBlock. Eric’s LinkedIn profile can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericstetson1. Information on FourBlock is available at https:...

Don King retired from the Navy JAG Corps about two years ago.  As Don explains in this episode, he wanted to get off the bench and back in front of it.  You will hear how he envisioned having a small practice in Southern California, leaving him plenty of time to play golf and enjoy beautiful Coronado.  Things, however, have not turned out as planned.  Not only is Don not playing much golf due to h...

Adam Kantor left the Navy JAG Corps after 7 years back in 2005, a decision which he describes as one of the hardest adult decisions of his life.  In this episode, Adam tells us how a recommendation from a friend to talk to an attorney in Tampa, Florida, put him in the position of making a career change, how his seven years of active-duty service prepared him for his civilian law practice and offer...