After the JAG Corps: Navigating Your Career Progression

Another incredible transition story. When Augustus popped up in my LinkedIn feed, I immediately reached out to him to tell me how he scored his current gig with Amazon Prime. His story has everything: setback, perseverance, adaptability, embracing challenges, self-improvement, a pandemic, and finally, success! You gotta hear his story about Primetime, Amazon style, that is. Augustus’s LI profile can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/augustus-turner-venerablevoice/

Raise your hand if you have looked at a job description and determined that you were not qualified for it? In this episode, my friend, and leadership and performance coach, Dr. Bryan Price, talks about “Imposter Syndrome” and why we talk ourselves out of applying. A must listen for those who still have their hands up! To learn more about Bryan and his work, please visit topmentalgame.com and his LinkedIn Profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-price/.

I first met Toren Mushovic back in 2002.  At the time, he was a Lieutenant Junior Grade Surface Warfare Officer aboard USS PRINCETON (CG 59), which was part of the NIMITZ Strike Group, for which I served as the SJA.  (As a side note, yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the commencement of our deployment.) Toren then attended law school on his own before returning the Navy as a JAG.  After 5 years and for family reasons, he left active service and relocated to Denver, CO, where he has enjoyed a successful career in the healthcare industry.  Toren currently serves as the Vice President and Compliance Officer at Soleo Health.  His LinkedIn profile can be found here. This conversation was recorded on January 6, 2023.

In this episode, David Thompson talks about finding work as a family law attorney and how his background as an SJA, trial counsel, defense counsel, and victims legal counsel has benefited him in his new role.  We also talk compensation and having the right expectations when leaving the service.  David's LinkedIn profile can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-thompson-lawyer/

This week, I catch up with Randy Bagwell, one of the many great Army JAGs with whom I had the honor to serve.  As you will hear in this episode, through networking Randy was an opportunity to leverage his expertise in International Humanitarian Law with the American Red Cross in Washington, DC, before being asked if he would be willing to take a "temporary" posting in Yokota, Japan, where he has been for almost the last two years.  Randy's LinkedIn profile is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/randybagwell/.

In December, Danny Murphy posted "A Call to Service" on LinkedIn, in which he recounted the tremendous advice and mentorship from which he benefitted leading up to his retirement from the U.S. Army in 2020, and implored former and retired JAGs to help their brethren.  A good friend tagged me in his response, and on January 6th, Danny and I had a conversation about his post.  In this episode, you will hear about Danny's journey from the front office of the TJAGSA to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Southwest Virginia to private practice.  Grab a cup of coffee and listen to what Danny has to say.  Danny's LinkedIn profile can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-j-murphy/

Last week, I dropped part one of my conversation with Ross Booher.  This is part two of our conversation, most of which is Ross passing along a lot of considerations for JAGs leaving the service.  Again, Ross's LinkedIn profile is HERE while information about Latitude Legal can be found at https://latitudelegal.com.

Ross Booher did one tour in the Navy JAG Corps before returning to Tennessee and entering private practice. He then launched Latitude Legal (latitudelegal.com), a firm that specializes in matching legal departments with qualified lawyers, paralegals, legal operations professionals, and compliance specialists. Whether looking for contract work or work-to-hire, companies like Latitude offer another avenue for separating and retiring judge advocates with a way to acclimate to the practice of law after the service.  In part one of a wide-ranging interview, Ross shares his insights on using a recruiter to assist with finding that job.  With offices in 11 markets across the United States, Latitude Legal could be of benefit to you.  Listen in.  You can find Ross's LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-booher-bb0869b/.

As you will hear in this episode, Matt Schultz and his wife made the decision to leave the Navy and move to Nashville, TN, where she landed a job at Vanderbilt University.  Matt discovered that finding work as a non-native out-of-state lawyer was "a rough slog." While he did have interviews, those interviews never resulted in an offer. Nonetheless, he found the JAG alumni network to be considerably helpful and unselfish with plenty of local former JAGs taking the time to speak with him. Ultimately, he found work with the State of Tennessee Attorney General's Office before moving onto Tennessee Department of Human Resources and to is current job as Chief Legal and Civil Rights Officer in the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Washington.  Despite the tough slog, Matt talks about his service in the Navy JAG Corps taught him to lead by putting him in positions that required him to trust his subordinates and in doing so, enabled him to achieve different professional qualifications, such as conning a 96,000-ton aircraft carrier.  Matt's LinkedIn profile can be accessed at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattschultzjd/.

I met Thomas Eybl this past fall as we were both members of FourBlock's 2022 Washington, D.C. cohort. This past Saturday, in just his 7th day of retirement, he messaged me to let me know that he had received an offer from T-Mobile.  As this was the first time a colleague and listener had let me know about an offer during the life of this podcast, I asked Thomas to share the story of his career progression while the memories were still fresh. In this episode, Thomas provides insight into applying for Federal jobs, Skillbridge, networking and understanding the audience(s) civilian job advertisements are targeting.  We also learn about perseverance and the importance of not burning bridges. Thomas's LinkedIn profile is accessible at https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-eybl/ Note that this episode runs a little longer at 41 minutes.  I have some feedback that perhaps I can improve by running the podcasts a little longer.  What do you think?  Please let me know via the poll.