From the leadership team at The Judge Advocate General’s School, we wish you a very happy and safe holiday season.
Thank You
As 2022 draws to a close, we at The Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School reflect on the honor it is to work each day with our team in educating and training our legal professionals and delivering cutting edge legal products to the field. We also thank our JAG Corps partners and adjunct faculty for their contributions to making this past year such a success.
The AFJAGS leadership team appreciates the talented, hardworking, award-winning faculty and staff here at the schoolhouse. Our team liaised with the JAG Corps Domain, Major Command, and Field Command senior leaders to create more robust and relevant curriculum, equipping our Judge Advocates, Paralegals, and Civilians with the top tools of our trade to operate and excel in today’s ever-changing legal environment. Over the course of 2022, we taught 72 courses and instructed 9,670 students in the areas of Military Justice, Civil Law and Litigation, Operations and International Law, and Leadership.
We provide the training linchpin to the developing changes to Military Justice practice in our key advocacy courses: the Trial and Defense Advocacy Course, Advanced Sexual Assault Litigation Course, and Advanced Trial Advocacy Course. We advanced integration with the field, bringing in seasoned prosecutors to serve as guest judges for the mock trials at the Judge Advocate Staff Officer Course, giving the most up-to-date field experienced feedback for our newest Judge Advocates.
Over the course of 2022, we taught 72 courses and instructed 9,670 students.
To keep our advisors relevant and lethal, AFJAGS has added a new course to its Operations and International Law curriculum, the Advanced Air Operations Course. In addition, we successfully hosted the JAG School Foundation’s 2022 National Security Law writing competition, prompting legal discourse on crucial topics in our military operations.
We taught the latest Department of Defense policy developments to our students, maximizing their effectiveness in vital Civil Law topics from COVID-19 policy to First Amendment and extremism issues, to legal assistance areas such as special education law under the Exceptional Family Member Program and new rights for tenants in military housing.
During 2022, we also trained 234 Paralegals through eight Paralegal Apprentice and Craftsman Courses. Additionally, our Paralegal instructors and their attorney counterparts “Team Taught” at intermediate and advanced leadership courses, such as the Chief Master Sergeant Leadership Course, 5J Senior Master Summit, First Sergeant Academy, Gateway, Paralegal Advanced Development Education, and Staff Judge Advocate/Law Office Management Courses.
We partnered closely with JAG Corps Domain and Directorate experts to arm our current and future DAF senior leaders with valuable resources to excel as commanders and command chiefs at our senior officer and enlisted trainings, including the Senior Officer Legal Orientation Course and the Senior Enlisted Legal Orientation Course.
We continue to deliver updated and innovative legal products to the field, including The Military Commander and the Law, The AFJAGS Podcast, The JAG Reporter, Air Force Law Review, and our webcast series on Campus. We recognize these important publications would not be possible without the contributions to our scholarly work from the JAG Corps community.
We hosted many distinguished visitors this year. Most notably, we showcased the JAG Corps enlisted and officer education and training in a visit from the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Charles Q. Brown, and the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Chief JoAnne S. Bass. We also hosted the Morehouse Lecture for the JAG School Foundation, whose keynote speaker was the 15th Judge Advocate General, Lieutenant General Jack L. Rives (Retired). AFJAGS is proud to serve as the hub of major JAG Corps meetings, enabling strategic discussions and workshops for our senior leadership. We continue to make the improvements on the intellectual home of the JAG Corps, including facility upgrades and installing state-of-the-art audiovisual systems in each classroom.
There are many other successes achieved by our team during 2022, and our combined strength is what makes our training excel—honing legal professionals, Airmen and Guardians, and joint and international partners. We remain devoted to our mission to develop relevant legal professionals for the best client in the world—the United States Air and Space Forces. We look forward to seeing all those in our JAG Corps Family who come through the schoolhouse next year as esteemed guests, expert instructors, and most importantly, valued students.
From the leadership team at The Judge Advocate General’s School, we wish you a very happy and safe holiday season.
JAG School Leadership Team
Mark D. Hoover,
Colonel, USAF
Commandant
Sarah W. Edmundson,
Lieutenant Colonel, USAF
Deputy Commandant
Lindsey A. Wolf,
Chief Master Sergeant, USAF
Senior Enlisted Leader
Edited by: Maj Allison K.W. Johnson (Editor-in-Chief)
Layout by: Thomasa Huffstutler