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JAGs are military lawyers who serve in legal institutions within their respective military branches. They are trained in the legal profession before enlisting and receive basic military and military law training. JAGs provide legal counsel, advice, and services to their units and act as legal counsel and advocate in court martials. They may also sit as judges in general and special martial courts.
A JAG is a judge advocate general, the senior officer assigned to command the Legal Services Organization, one of the branches of the United States military. In common usage, however, the term refers to any military lawyer who serves in such an organization. JAGs, in the United States and other countries, who maintain legal institutions within their military, usually are trained in the legal profession before enlisting in the military. After obtaining their attorney credentials, they apply to become lawyers in the military and, if accepted, receive basic military training, as well as training in military law. Upon completion of training, they are made officers.
In the United States, Army, Air Force, and Navy JAGs are members of their respective service branch’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps; the Marines and Coast Guard have JAGs, but no special units for them. JAG officers of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard are considered line officers. That is, they may be assigned to any officer position within their service appropriate to their rank. The fact is, however, that JAG officers in all branches generally serve full-time in their legal capacity, acting as legal counsel to the unit commander to which they are assigned, providing legal aid and counseling to other officers and enlisted soldiers . in command and keeping unit officers abreast of legislative matters as appropriate.
Although the JAGs provide a wide range of legal services to their units, including the provision of legal advice and services under combat conditions, probably the most visible and well-known of their functions is to act as legal counsel and advocate in court martials, which are military trials of enlisted and commissioned personnel accused of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The trial attorney is charged with representing the United States government and pursuing the case. The defense attorney is responsible for providing the defendant with the best possible defense. Defendants in courts-martial sometimes choose to hire a civilian lawyer with military experience. In such cases, the assigned JAG officer will assist the civilian attorney.
In addition to their duties as defender and defender, a senior JAG will be assigned to sit as a judge in both the general courts martial, which have jurisdiction over serious cases where the maximum sentence exceeds one year’s imprisonment and could include execution, and special martial courts, which are convened for less serious cases, where the maximum possible imprisonment is 12 months. A third type of court-martial, called a summary court-martial, is conducted with a single hearing counsel, usually a JAG who serves as both trial and defense counsel. A summary court-martial is convened for relatively minor offenses by enlisted personnel and cannot impose a prison sentence exceeding 30 days.
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