The Marines have two options in recruiting JAs. The first option is the Platoon Leaders Class- Law ("PLC"). This first option where the Marines receive most of their candidates. The PLC is for individuals who have been selected as officer candidates, but have not yet graduated from law school. After being accepted into the program, training will take place over a ten-week training session at the Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. The other major program is the Officer Candidate Class - Law. This program is for those who have already graduated law school and have passed the bar exam. Similar to PLC, the training session is a ten-week session in Quantico.
Upon admission to the bar of a federal court or the highest court of a state or the District of Columbia the JA's next assignment will be The Basic School (TBS) also in Quantico VA. TBS will teach the lieutenants who to become leaders within the Marine Corps. After TBS, JAs will attend the Naval Justice School (NJS) in Newport RI to receive training and education on the basics of the military legal system.
The United States Marine Corps' Judge Advocate Division (JAD) serves both to advise the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) and other officials in Headquarters, Marine Corps on legal matters, and to oversee the Marine Corps legal community.
Judge advocates (JAs) in the Marine Corps work under the supervision of the Staff Judge Advocate to the CMC to advise Marine commanders regarding legal issues including the laws of war, and handling of criminal cases under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Unlike their counterparts in the Army and Navy, the Marine Corps JAs are line officers, which means they can fill any officer role in the Fleet Marine Force. Typically, in other branches, attorneys, chaplains, medical service providers, and other non-combat officers are not line officers.
Marine JAs have opportunities to participate in three career paths: trial advocacy, civil litigation, and operational law. In the trial advocacy field, JAs can be either a prosecutor or defense counsel in felony or misdemeanor criminal cases. Also, as a prosecutor, JAs will work with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) to direct criminal investigations into more serious and complex crimes.
In the civil law path, JAs will work closely with Marines, sailors, and their families on family, consumer, tax, estate, and immigration law issues. JAs can also act as in-house counsel to Marine Corps staff, researching and writing internal memorandas and advising commanders on legal issues affecting the command.
In the operational law path, JAs will have the opportunity to deploy with scalable Marine Air-Ground Task Forces (MAGTF) around the world. These deployed JAs have the opportunity to support Marines through their knowledge of international law.