Taking the Oath! Staying in the Army!

On Wednesday, 13 September, I went to court and took an oath before a judge. But I was not on trial and I was not a witness, I was taking the Washington State Oath of Attorney. Last February I took the two hour professional responsibility portion of the Washington bar exam so that I could be admitted to practice law here in Washington. Attorneys are licenced to practice by individual state bar associations. Each state has its own bar and its own admissions requirments. Reciprocity is the process of attorneys from one state being admitted in another state. Some states, like California, require all attorneys to take the full exam. Washington has a tit-for-tat process that says whatever a Washington attorney would have to do in your state, you have to do in ours. Makes since. If a Washington attorney wanted to be admitted to Colorado, they'd have to take only the multistate professional responsibilty exam, not the full test. Since Washington does not require the mpre, to be admitted from Colorado to Washinton I had to take the Washinton version of the ethics test, a two hour written exam. Also, I had to be in good standing and have practiced law for at least five years. Well, I passed and was sent an oath of attorney that I needed to take before a Washington judge. I contacted Judge Nevin, a judge in Tacomoa who also happens to be a reserve general officer in the Army JAG and he was happy to help me out.

So there I ended up on Wednesday with Melody, Megan and Dustin taking the oath of attorney. It is a very long oath, but it was actually nice to take. It has a lot of good things in it that serve as reminders that the profession of law is foremost dedicated to justice and helping others. In fact, part of the oath involves supporting the oppressed. I believe in this full heartedly. It was nice to have my family there. Melody was not able to be there when I took the mass oath in Colorado with every other new attorney. This was much better even if there were no pomp and ceremony - it felt very real and very nice to have my wife and children there as witnesses to what I was doing. I only need to wait for official admission now from the Washington Supreme Court and I could practice law in Washington as well as Colorado.



Ironically, that same day I put in paperwork to stay in the Army another three years, minimum. As a regular army officer I do not have a term of enlistment, but I requested what is called continuation pay. This is a sort of bonus that gives me a large lump sum in exchange for a three year comitment. As a former Army Judge Advocate General said, it is not meant to be so much of an insintive to stay in but a help for those who want to stay in. Many, if not most, Judge Advocates have heafty student loans. I'm no exception to that! So this will help pay off bills and make it easier to stay in. The plan is to go to the JA advance course next year at The Judge Advocate Generals Center and School on the University of Virginia law school campus. This one year course will give me an LLM in military law and will also incur a two year obligation. That means really I'm agreeing to another four years all told. The real question is whether somethign will come up that causes me to delay the advance course a year or what will I do afterwards. At this point I'd most like to stay and teach criminal law at the school, but there are other great jobs that would interest me as well. And this is a good move for our family right now. Few jobs carry so many good benefits as well as so many real risks. But also few jobs offer a chance to serve my country in the same way this one does.