Soldiers and Airmen of the Judge Advocate General Corps of the Mississippi National Guard held their annual conference the first weekend of February 2018 at the Biloxi Visitor Center in Biloxi, Miss.
The event is the 34th annual Mississippi National Guard JAG continuing legal education and regimental dinner, said Capt. Tommy Horne, a newly licensed attorney with the Mississippi National Guard JAG Corps.
It is an annual event where Soldiers and Airmen of the MSNG, as well as retired JAGs, meet with old friends to discuss issues of law and regulation.
“Some things that are discussed pertain to military law, some of the discussions pertain to civilian law, which, as JAG officers, we’re responsible for knowing about current law,” said Horne. “We do it also to come together as a JAG corps to instill esprit de corps among JAG officers and to represent the JAG corps.”
The annual conference features a series of lectures and classes that the JAGs must attend in order to stay current with their continuing education requirements.
“This conference provides 12 hours of continuing legal education, which is the annual requirement imposed by the BAR association,” said Col. Robin Dambrino, a retired Mississippi Army National Guard JAG officer. “It’s a great opportunity to keep our JAGs on the cutting edge of knowledge and developments of law, and it’s changing every year.”
After the conference, the JAGs are able to take their knowledge and skills and apply them to their everyday practices to benefit citizens and service members.
“The public benefits because attorneys serve the public; most of the attorneys here are not only in the Mississippi National Guard, but they’re also privately practicing attorneys who serve the public,” said Horne. “Mississippi requires lawyers to meet a certain amount of hours of education each year, so as attorneys were are duty-bound to keep up.”
Lt. Col. Mark Majors, as the joint staff judge advocate, is the main organizer for the event.
“Colonel Majors has put it together for the last 10 years and he has grown it from what used to be a collection of 10 people to what it is now, which is really over 70 or 80 attendees,” said Dambrino. “And it’s an opportunity for us to get together and share stories and help each other out in that regard.”
The JAG Corps is the legal branch of the military and specializes in military justice and law.
“The JAG Corps was founded back in the 1700s, and you have to be a licensed practicing attorney to be a member of the JAG Corps,” said Dambrino. “We do a myriad of things - one of them being that we help keep a formation focused on a mission by not having to worry about legal problems.”