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Opportunities abound for aspiring lawyers

  • Published
  • By 27th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs Staff Report
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Applications for the Funded Legal Education Program and Excess Leave Program are being accepted from Jan. 1, 2009, through March 1, 2009. Interested officers are encouraged to compete.

"Our Air Force missions are constantly changing, and commanders deserve to have access to legal advisors with a broad background of military experiences," said Colonel Robin Moro, the Chief of the Professional Development Division in the Office of The Judge Advocate General. "The FLEP and ELP will ensure that we can continue to maintain a Corps of officers whose military experience compliments their legal training, providing commanders with the highest caliber of legal support."

According to Colonel Moro, Air Force JAGs do more than just provide legal assistance. In addition to prosecuting and defending clients brought before courts-martial, JAG officers routinely participate in nearly every facet of the Air Force mission, including developing and acquiring weapons systems, ensuring availability of airspace and ranges where those systems are tested and operated, consulting with commanders about how those systems are employed in armed conflict, and assisting commanders in the day-to-day running of military installations around the world.

"Every facet of every Air Force mission is bound by elements of the law," Colonel Moro said.

The FLEP is a paid legal studies program for active-duty Air Force commissioned officers. The FLEP is an assignment action, and participants receive full pay, allowances, and tuition. FLEP applicants must have between two and six years active duty service (enlisted or commissioned) and must be in the pay grade O-3 or below as of the day they begin law school. The FLEP is subject to tuition limitations, and positions may be limited due to overall funding availability. The Air Force Institute of Technology tuition limit for FY09 is expected to be set at approximately $10,000 per year.

The ELP is an unpaid legal studies program for Air Force officers. Excess Leave Program participants do not receive pay and allowances, but remain on active duty for retirement eligibility and benefits purposes. ELP applicants must have between two and ten years active duty service and must be in the pay grade O-3 or below as of the first day of law school.

Applications for FY09 FLEP and ELP will be accepted from Jan. 1, 2009 through March 1, 2009. Both the FLEP and ELP require attendance at an American Bar Association - approved law school. Upon graduation and admission to practice law in the highest court of any state, territory of the United States, or a federal court, candidates are eligible for designation as judge advocates. To be considered for FLEP or ELP, applicants must have completed all application forms, applied (acceptance is not required at the time of application for FLEP/ELP) to at least one ABA-approved law school, received their Law School Admissions Test results, and completed a Staff Judge Advocate interview by 1 March 2009. Officers must also provide a letter of conditional release from their current career field. Selection for both programs is competitive.

Applications meet a selection board in early March, and selections are made based on a review of the entire application package using a "whole person" concept. Air Force Instruction 51-101, Judge Advocate Accession Program, Chapters 2 and 3, discuss the FLEP and ELP. For more information and application materials, visit www.airforce.com/jag, contact the Cannon Law Center at 784-2211 or 27SOW.JA@cannon.af.mil, or contact Captain Afsana Ahmed, HQ USAF/JAX (afsana.ahmed@pentagon.af.mil or 1-800-JAG-USAF).

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