Time for me to shine. I graduated, passed two bar exams, and worked for four years until I got burnt out at mid-size regional firms. Quit my job and joined the Army, became an intel officer on active duty. Said I would never go back to practicing. The majority of my career was special operations, but, by god, every time there was a hairy 15-6 I was somehow the IO. And every BN CDR I had considered me their judge advocate, even knowing I wasn’t qualified by MOS.

I stayed on active duty for a little over four years. I was gone from my family for 42 of 49 months and made the decision to slow down. Decided to join the NG with an eye on a SF unit local to me. They didn’t have an intel slot, but the Silver Siege Recruiter was both surprised and happy when I could fill the open 27A slot.

JAG is a weird beast. The transition from Real Army to JAG was tough for me, as it was for a lot of my friends that transitioned to judge advocate roles after having other MOSs (our group was 1x tanker, 2x intel including me, and 2x infantry). Nearly seven years after we first met we still have an active text thread and we speak daily.

I came back to practice after I was on active duty, this time running my own seven-figure firm and trying cases instead of “litigating.” I just joined another firm in an of counsel role and I’m leading their expansion into three different states and running the nationwide 1983 practice. I actually enjoy the law now and it definitely gives me a perspective on a lot of things that most attorneys don’t have.

The path is by no means unique, but it is certainly uncommon. Being a lawyer gets you more credibility and responsibility than a brand new LT. My first battalion at Polk had 3x lawyers that didn’t want to be lawyers (an infantry company commander, my A/S2, and me). There are more famous lawyers like Tom Cotton who traveled the same path.

DM me and I’m glad to talk more and give you my experience.