After the JAG Corps: Navigating Your Career Progression

This week, I talk to Stephen Dunn, a JAG in the Army Reserve, who explains why separating and retiring JAGs should consider doing a law firm or entering the corporate world. Unsuccessful in obtaining a commission in the active component, Stephen secured a Reserve commission after becoming a prosecutor in Michigan before moving over to a law firm. Eighteen years later, he talks about juggling both careers and why JAGs make good firm attorneys and in-house counselors. Stephen's LinkedIn profile is HERE. Podcast notes: 1. A big thank you to the individuals who signed up to be a monthly sponsor on the Spotify for Podcasters web site. As retirement and new career draw closer, my hope is to contract out the editing and production work of the podcast, allowing me to continue the podcast once I start my next career. 2. Speaking of which, I am less than 5 weeks away, but thankfully on the Navy payroll for a little longer.

Michael Turner joined the Navy's JAG Corps in 1999 (Norfolk, Bahrain, Naples) and became a U.S. diplomat in 2004, retiring in April 2023.  Serving as a foreign service officer in Indonesia, Colombia, the Secretary of State's Office, Vietnam, Shanghai, and Beijing, his last tour was leading the Department of State's largest overseas communications office (China) where he had served since 2019.  As one of the very few, senior-level former officials who has recent, on-the-ground, experience in China, he formed his own consulting firm, Turner Global Solutions LLC, specializing in counter-disinformation and crisis narratives.  In this episode, we hear about making a career overseas and how retirement has allowed Michael to focus on personal projects, such as helping dads through his website Raise Strong Girls.  Click HERE for Michael's LinkedIn profile. 

Mike Palmer retired from the Navy JAG Corps in 2018 after 30 years of service with no intention of practicing law again. However, like so many judge advocates who at one time or another have taught as an adjunct somewhere, Mike has continued serving as an adjunct professor and then picked up a job as instructor teaching foreign officers. Mike also talks about the importance of doing those things that everyone plans on doing later in life, like traveling the country, when the opportunity presents itself and while your health is good.

In this episode, we learn about Matt Osman's journey from his 6.5 years hardship tours in the Navy from Japan to Rota, Spain, to Charleston, SC, his decision to get out, the mistake he made in looking for that first job getting out of the service, and how he ended up being an elected judge for the past 12+ years. Matt's profile is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewosman/details/experience/.

Paige Ormiston, former Navy servicemember stationed in Italy, talks about transitioning to a civilian career, challenges of applying for jobs overseas, and the difficulties of scheduling remote job interviews. She also discusses different job roles within OGC and shares her experience of receiving multiple job offers.

In the 1980s and 1990s, environmental regulation began to have a significant impact on the Navy's ability to conduct operations, both at sea and ashore, resulting in the Navy JAG developing a small cadre of environmental law experts. Neil Sheehan was one of those and in the early 2000s was serving as the environmental law attorney for Commander, Pacific Fleet. This was his last position on active duty before transitioning to the Reserves. In this episode, Neil talks a little about the Navy's environmental law program, what he did with this experience after leaving the service, and how he ended up back with the U.S. Government, this time with the U.S. Coast Guard. Neil's LinkedIn profile is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-sheehan-a122865b/

In today's episode, Matt Reeder talks about his journey from the U.S. Marine Corps to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, to his recent transition to OnlyFans, where he now serves as Deputy General Counsel. Additionally, having served on a number of hiring panels while with Orrick, Matt talks about the importance of accurately describing what you have done in the military, and the importance of understanding what these terms mean to your audiences. He talks about the importance of networking, the advantages and disadvantages of having served in the military when it comes to applying to jobs outside of government, the business aspect of practicing law, and much more. Matt's LinkedIn profile is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-reeder/.

Passed over twice for promotion, Jeremy Burkhart was forced to make the jump to the civilian sector, where he ultimately landed at Holland and Knight, LLP. With the benefit of hindsight, Jeremy considers his non-selection "as the best thing that ever happened to me." Now also serving in the Army Reserves, Jeremy encourages judge advocates to think about life after the JAG Corps well in advance and not wait until you are approaching the exit ramp. Jeremy's LinkedIn profile is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-burkhart-83991815b/ while is firm biography can be found at https://www.hklaw.com/en/professionals/b/burkhart-jeremy-d.

Last week, I had the opportunity to catch up with Rob Passerello who retired last year from the Navy JAG Corps as a captain. Rob and I had talked about him passing along his experiences. Now, a year later, Rob finds himself pivoting to a second post-military job, proving again that your first one will not necessarily be the last one. Join me as we hear from one of the truly “good guys” of the JAG Corps. Rob’s information can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-passerello-leadership-dedication-focus.

Following his retirement from the Navy in 1998, where he had spent many years on the bench as a judge, Ken Krantz served as an Administrative Law Judge for three different Federal agencies. While Ken acknowledges his information about when he became an ALJ is a little dated, he nonetheless brings awareness to the opportunities that are out there for people who would like to serve as one after leaving the JAG Corps. In addition to providing a link to a fact sheet on ALJ put out by the Office of Personal Management (https://www.opm.gov/services-for-agencies/administrative-law-judges/fact-sheet-administrative-law-judge-alj-positions-posted.pdf), Ken is open to connecting to interested lawyers via LinkedIn. His profile can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-krantz-06586530/.