I've had an ambition to get my law degree for awhile. Can someone provide insight on the best route to take. For instance, elaborate upon an educational delay or returning to school after commissioning. I'm a contracted MS1 so I know I have a bit of always to think about this, but the sooner the better!
Law school
- Thread starter jscorpion
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I'm not sure how you would return to school after commissioning. Off hand I cannot think of very many good law schools that are close to large Army installations. Also, not sure that the time would workout. Law school and Army life will both be demanding with not much wiggle room on either side. You can do ed delay but in that case law school is coming out of your pocket. You can apply for FLEP at either 1LT promotable or CPT and that would fund your law school and then I believe you would have 6-7 years of service to repay the Army working as a lawyer. Lastly you could do your 6 or 7 years and then try and hook on to a yellow ribbon program at a school like Cornell Law. Take these dates and things with a grain of salt. It has been a minute since I looked into this stuff but that should be enough to get your personal research started.
Day-Tripper
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If you're a 4-year ROTC scholarship recipient, you'll need at least 7 years of active duty to fully qualify for the post-9/11 GI Bill, which would set you up pretty nice for a free law school experience after your military service is over.
Consider combination of GI Bill & Yellow Ribbon Program at, say, Harvard Law School. Go to school for basically free & get monthly non-taxable housing allowance of $3K+ (2017 rates) to live in Boston/Cambridge.
Study hard, get good grades & graduate at age of 32 with zero debt. Pass the bar & proceed with wonderfully fulfilling & financially rewarding career as an attorney.
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http://benefits.va.gov/BENEFITS/factsheets/education/Post-911_General_info.pdf
See NOTE on page one:
Active-duty service time required by graduates of a Service Academy or ROTC does not count toward the three years necessary to qualify for full benefits.
Day-Tripper
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Right, so you need an additional 3 yrs (7 yrs total) of active duty to qualify for GI Bill benefits. I've got that right, yes? If not, could anyone clarify?
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Is it only a 4-year obligation for a 4-year ROTC Scholarship? For SA, it is 3 more years after initial 5-year obligation to qualify for Post 9/11 GI Bill - min 8 years total.
Late shot here and not a JAG but FLEP is one of the hidden gems of the Army. Basically as a senior LT/junior CPT you apply to the program to go to Law School after serving time in your basic branch. Your law school gets paid for and you get paid your active duty salary to go to law school then you come back on active duty as a JAG when you are done. I have four friends that did it and they all said it was incredibly wonderful.
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Not sure any of this advice is what you are looking for...for Ed Delay you will request law school ed Delay going into your senior year as part of accessions. Your HRA should be able to help with that. You should be working on getting accepted and passing your LSAT. If you are granted ed Delay you will commission and then go straight to law school instead of active duty. You will basically be a second lieutenant who is a full time law school student. When you earn your law degree you will return to the Army, hopefully as an Army lawyer and serve the rest of your time. Have a graduate that is just finishing up his law school this Spring who went through the ed delay program. The Army may or may not pay for your law school, so make sure you are saving some of that stipend check each month just in case.
Ask your cadre or ROO about ed delay and see if you can talk to an Army lawyer or two in the next couple years to get a better perspective on the options.
Ask your cadre or ROO about ed delay and see if you can talk to an Army lawyer or two in the next couple years to get a better perspective on the options.