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 profil...
Jun 24, 2023•38 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast 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, experien...
Jun 17, 2023•29 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jun 10, 2023•31 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast 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/. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tom-welsh/support...
Jun 03, 2023•37 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast Paige Ormiston knew that her assignment to Naples, Italy, would be her last duty station in the Navy before retirement. What she did not know was that while a global pandemic would drastically alter this overseas experience, and not in a good way, it did prove to be somewhat fortuitous when it came time to looking for work back in the United States. In this episode, we hear about the joys and challenges of making the transition to a civilian career while stationed OCONUS. Paige's soon-to-be-...
May 27, 2023•43 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast 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&#...
May 20, 2023•24 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast 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 networ...
May 13, 2023•50 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast 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 availa...
May 06, 2023•30 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast 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-de...
Apr 29, 2023•40 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast 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 P...
Apr 22, 2023•37 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast Carson Honeycutt was a USMC Sergeant and CH-53 Crew Chief when he left the service after 5 years. He then went onto a sales job, where he failed. Undeterred, he has gone onto get his MBA and JD. In this episode, he passes along his lessons learned, which he uses to mentor people leaving the service. Carson’s LinkedIn profile is found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carhoney and his website is www.thezenveteran.com. (UPDATE: After prepping this episode for release, Carson received word that he had...
Apr 15, 2023•44 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode Immigration Judges Megan Jackler and Jennifer Peyton give an overview of life as Administrative Law Judges for Immigration matters, including the process for becoming one. Hint: if interested, a new posting on USAJOBS is only days away. Judge Jackler serves in the Navy Reserves, while Judge Peyton was in private practice before going to the bench. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tom-welsh/support...
Apr 08, 2023•38 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Nik Mathews, U.S. Army veteran and Partner at Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe talks about his journey and the upcoming VLCF that Orrick sponsors. Nik's profile can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikmathews. VLCF information and registration available at https://www.veteranslegalcareerfair.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tom-welsh/support...
Apr 01, 2023•29 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Bob Stern is a retired corporate counsel who now volunteers with Candorful, a non-profit organization that provides interview coaching for military transitioning to the civil sector. He also talks about why he believes military JAGs are well suited for work in the corporate world, and has served a mentor to a number of former judge advocates, including individuals previously interviewed on this podcast. Bob’s LinkedIn profile is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertstern1. --- Support ...
Mar 25, 2023•39 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast 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/ --- Support this podca...
Mar 18, 2023•35 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast 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/. --- Support this podcast: https://podca...
Mar 11, 2023•37 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast 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, wher...
Mar 04, 2023•26 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast 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/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tom-welsh/support...
Feb 25, 2023•28 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast 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.l...
Feb 18, 2023•35 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Feb 11, 2023•28 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tom-welsh/support...
Feb 04, 2023•31 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast 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 af...
Jan 28, 2023•39 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Ult...
Jan 21, 2023•27 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jan 14, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Happy New Year! Chad Jespersen retired from the United States Air Force in June 2021. With the COVID 19 pandemic ramping up as he was preparing to transition out of the service, he was forced to find innovative ways to network, which he did, including extensive use of Zoom and other online tools to meet people who could help him with his goal to find his next career. What was clear from our conversations, both this one and another that we had offline, Chad is a person who not only ta...
Jan 07, 2023•28 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast When I first launched this podcast and was soliciting volunteers, Paul Janoff was among the first to raise his hand and volunteer to come onto this show. For one reason or another, however, we never got around to chatting until December 16, 2022. I think it is the perfect show to closeout the year. Paul offers a positive message of what awaits those of on active duty, which comes from serving in the Navy JAG Corps in the 1980s followed by stints in Philadelphia as a prosecutor,...
Dec 31, 2022•25 min•Ep 52•Transcript available on Metacast Merry Christmas. Today, on the 365th day since releasing the trailer for this podcast, we talk to U.S. Army JAG veteran James "Jimmy" Trieschmann who tells about his career progression from active duty to a civilian military justice appeals practice before building a nationwide VA disability ratings appeals practice. James also provides a primer on the VA disability claims process, a must for both people who will soon be leaving active duty as well as those who separated and never filed a claim ...
Dec 24, 2022•29 min•Ep 51•Transcript available on Metacast In today's episode, Shane Cooper details his very quick and unexpected journey to becoming the Associate Dean for Administration and Enrollment at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. Believing that it was unlikely his application would advance, let alone that he would get the job, Shane found himself a clear front runner and had yet to tell Navy JAG Corps leadership about the possibility of him leaving. Fortunately, leadership understood the significance of this ...
Dec 17, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Good morning! Start your GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY! Saturday off with another episode of After the JAG Corps! Today, I talk to Alison Atkins, who served just over 20 years in the Army, both as an MP and then as a JAG. Following her retirement in 2020, Alison first worked with Capital One before moving onto U.S. Bank where she serves as Assistant General Counsel and Vice President and Chief Cyber Counsel. In this episode, Alison talks about how she was fortunate to link up with a Navy ...
Dec 10, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Kelli Hooke shows that applying for a job online can indeed result in employment. While stationed at Fort Belvoir, Kelli talks about how she saw an ad for a position with T Mobile in Seattle, for which she was ultimately hired. Kelli shares her thoughts on what it is like to work for a major tech company, and how working as a corporate counsel is a lot like being an SJA. Note: you will hear voices in the background of this interview. It is a testament to ...
Dec 03, 2022•28 min•Ep 48•Transcript available on Metacast 
