RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Active-duty Air Force commissioned officers in pay grade O-3 or below who aspire to earn law degrees and join the Judge Advocate General's Corps are encouraged to compete for admission to two programs that allow them to attend law school.
The Funded Legal Education Program is a paid legal studies program and assignment action that provides participants with full pay, allowances and tuition while the Excess Leave Program is an unpaid program that does not include pay and allowances but allows participants to remain on active duty for retirement eligibility and benefits purposes.
Applications for the program will be accepted Jan. 1-March 1.
"Our Air Force missions are constantly changing, and commanders deserve to have access to legal advisers with a broad background of military experiences," said Lt. Col. Scott Ecton, 12th Flying Training Wing staff judge advocate. "The FLEP and ELP will ensure that we can continue to maintain a corps of officers whose military experience complements their legal training, providing commanders with the highest caliber of legal support."
In addition to prosecuting and defending clients brought before courts-martial, JAG officers routinely participate in nearly every facet of the Air Force mission, he said.
FLEP applicants must have between two and six years' active-duty service in the enlisted or commissioned ranks and ELP applicants must have between two and 10 years' active-duty service. All applicants must be in pay grade O-3 or below the day they begin law school.
Maj. Nicole Prichard, an Air Force Reserve individual mobility augmentee with the 12th FTW legal office, said attending the University of Iowa College of Law while participating in the Excess Leave Program allowed her to fulfill her ambition.
"I had wanted to go to law school and be in the JAG corps for a couple of years," she said. "I was on active duty and this was the only way I could go."
Major Prichard, who had experience as an acquisitions officer and wing executive officer, served an internship in the Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, JAG office for two summers while she was attending law school from 2000-2003.
"The cool thing about the program is that, while you're going to law school, the time counts toward your retirement and your benefits continue," she said. "Your clock doesn't stop."
Both the FLEP and ELP programs require attendance at an American Bar Association-accredited law school. Upon graduation and admission to practice law in the highest court of any state or territory of the United States, or a federal court, candidates are eligible for designation as judge advocates.
To be considered for either program, applicants must have completed all application forms, applied to at least one ABA-accredited law school, received their Law School Admissions Test results and completed a staff judge advocate interview by March 1. Applicants should contact the SJA for an interview no later than Feb. 15. Officers must also provide a letter of conditional release from their current career field.
A selection board meets in early March, and choices are made based on a review of application packages using a "whole person" concept. For more information and application materials, visit www.airforce.com/jag, contact the base legal office at 652-6781 or contact Capt. Afsana Ahmed, HQ USAF/JAX, at afsana.ahmed@pentagon.af.mil or 1-800-JAG-USAF.