National Jurist - October 2008 - (Page 27) Armed Forces Advertorial: Army JAG Corps Lawyer, Professor, Judge: Meet the JAG Corps ho joins the Army JAG Corps? Meet six lawyers who did. Lieutenant Colonel Kirsten Brunson is a military judge presiding over felony courts-martial. She spent her first three years as a Judge Advocate assigned to commands throughout Germany. As an appellate defense counsel in Washington, D.C., she argued issues before the Army Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Later, she was the deputy legal advisor to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. She stays in the JAG Corps year after year because she keeps having fun: “I’ve had a few bad days,” she says, “but no bad weeks.” She assures applicants, “you will absolutely be rewarded for your performance and your merit. There are no glass ceilings and no tokens—there is no limit to what you can achieve.” Captain Jason De Los Santos was a father of four with thirteen years’ experience as an Army combat medic when he went to law school, then rejoined the active Army as a Judge Advocate. During his first assignment, he prosecuted soldiers in a larceny ring responsible for $1 million in missing military supplies. While deployed to Iraq, Jason trained soldiers to collect evidence and prepare cases for the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, where Iraqi judges preside over accused insurgents’ trials. He is back home as the new legal advisor to the 6th Military Police Group, Criminal Investigative Division, whose personnel investigate felony crimes. Jason is bringing the rule of law to life wherever the JAG Corps takes him. Captain Cinnamon Mather grew up in Oregon, Japan, and Pakistan. During her time abroad as a teenager, she met military service members who inspired her to serve. She attended law school at night while working full-time, and then joined the JAG Corps. During her deployment to Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division, she worked as the legal advisor for detainee operations. Cinnamon is teaching new Army leaders as a professor of Constitutional Law and Military Law at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Captain Megan Shaw applied for a 1L internship because her JAG Corps interviewer was the only attorney in her on campus interviews who enjoyed his work. She was a 2L intern, too, and became a Judge Advocate after passing the bar. In five years in the JAG Corps, she has been an administrative and fiscal law attorney, a trainer for the Iraqi police, a trial counsel, a defense attorney, a defense team leader in Iraq, and now is the Chief of Justice at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. With all that experience under her belt, she says the best thing about her job is still “working with some of the greatest people in the profession.” Captain Steven Sumbler has been a Judge Advocate for a year and a half. After working to put himself through law school, Stephen entered the 171st Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course, the first to complete the Army’s Basic Officer Leader Course (BOLC). When Steven volunteered to be an operational law attorney in Iraq, his BOLC training equipped him to understand what the Army does at war. Back home now, Steven is a military prosecutor and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney working closely with local district attorneys in Vernon Parish outside Fort Polk, Louisiana. As his story shows, “the JAG Corps is not boring. It will keep you on your toes.” Captains Steven Sumbler, Jason De Los Santos, Jeremy Stephens, Cinnamon Mather, Hobe Scholz, Megan Shaw, and Rebecca DiMuro pose with Lieutenant Colonel Kirsten Brunson during training in Charlottesville, Virginia. Summer internships nationwide and worldwide for 2Ls (application deadline 1 November) and 1Ls (application deadline 1 March) 2-year graduate school ROTC scholarships available through local ROTC detachments Funded Legal Education program for current Army officers with 2-6 years of active service Comprehensive entry training in Soldier-Lawyer skills New attorneys practice in six core areas: legal assistance, claims, administrative law, civil law, criminal law, and operational law Part-time work available for lawyers in the Army Reserve and National Guard Opportunities for advanced professional schooling and LLMs More information and applications available online at www.goarmy.com/jag Captain Jeremy Stephens was the first person in his family to complete college. During law school, he served as a 2L summer intern with the JAG Corps in Hawaii. After graduation, his first assignment was Fort Hood, Texas, where he was a claims and legal assistance attorney, and then a trial counsel. He deployed to Iraq in that job. Jeremy currently works as an appellate criminal defense counsel in Washington, D.C. He married a fellow Judge Advocate and fellow former intern in April; they met in the Judge Advocate Basic Course. Jeremy is proud to follow in the footsteps of his grandfathers who served during World War II. For Jeremy, Army service is a family affair. These Judge Advocates and others are interviewing students at law schools nationwide. Meet your Field Screening Officer and imagine your future in the Army JAG Corps. Army JAG Corps http://www.goarmy.com/jag
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.