You've raised several interesting questions that have not been dealt with before in this forum.
jlc said:
1. Must an officer cadet travel out of province (for me, Alberta) to become a legal officer, as part of their basic/legal officer training, for more than a week at a time?
My concern is that the demands of private practice will not ordinarily allow for extended periods away from the office/clients. And telling the partners at your firm you "need a month off" as a junior associate is not really going to fly.
Reserve Legal Officers can take their basic military training with whatever service they wish regardless of whether they choose to wear the army, navy or air force uniform. Most choose to follow the army's BMOQ because it can be done in modules in the local area. Please be advised that the scheduling varies from brigade to brigade and you would have to check with the local brigade for details.
When I left the branch six years ago all Basic Legal Officer Training was done through online or home study courses in four modules. Intermediate Legal Officer Training was conducted by classroom courses primarily conducted in Ottawa or a Federal Study centre within Ontario.
While taking a month off at a time was generally not required (although opportunities for long term callouts were available from time to time) do be aware that you will probably be expected to do at least forty days of service per year. Generally you need to do that to complete your training requirements in your first few years and later in providing service to your clients. Long story short that means a lot of weekend or evening work which, while it may not impact directly on your firm during the day, will certainly hit your family. In addition you will frequently do work during the day in answering inquiries from military clients during the working day. Be up front with both your law firm and your family about the commitment you are planning on making. If either the firm or your family are reluctant about this then don't join; you'll have wasted your time and the branch's if you end up quitting in a year or two. Incidentally most law firms want to see their junior associates to be involved in community service work-most that I've dealt with are very receptive of military service once assured that your not about to be sent involuntarily overseas for six months.
jlc said:
2. I see that the "daily rate" on the pay scales is for a period of time of "6 hours or more". Does a reservist working during his/her "one evening a week" meet this threshold requirement for the full daily rate? Or do these week night shifts usually end up being less than the required 6 hours?
The basic pay system is a bit difficult to apply to legal services because much of your work, once you are providing legal services, is done in small increments by answering telephone or email inquiries. While technically you might think that if you provided a half hour of legal services in a given day you could claim a half day's pay, the branch does not allow you to do so. It does however allow you to "accumulate" hours of legal services so that once you have achieved a minimum of three hours of services then you can claim a half day's pay. (for example if during a given week you provide a total of 4.4 hours then you can claim a half day's pay. If you accumulate 7.3 hours then a full day's pay.) The three hour concept comes from the fact that most army reserve units parade for three hours on a weekday evening and thereby claim a half day's (under six hours) pay.
One final point. We don't generally go down to the armouries on a weekday and sit around for three hours waiting for work to come in the door. Firstly most brigades can't afford to give you a private office and, more importantly, units parade on varying days. Generally you work from your own office or home and do what I call "legal services by walking around" which entails stopping in at a unit every few weeks or so to informally meet with the adjutant or RSM--inevitably some issue or other pops up. You rotate around all the units and headquarters to make your presence known and services available. Most of your case load will come to you this way or through phone or email contacts throughout the day or evenings.
Also please note that in most regions there are several legal officers available. The Assistant Judge Advocate General (AJAG - Lieutenant Colonel) for a given region commands all regular and reserve legal advisors within that region and will split up the service assignments amongst his/her Deputy Judge Advocates (DJAs - Majors and Captains). Generally, but not exclusively, responsibilities for various reserve units and headquarters in the region are assigned to reserve DJAs.
Note that there are also reserve legal officers working for the Director of Military Prosecutions and the Director of Defence Counsel Services. Their requirements for BOMQ are the same as for DJAs but their legal services are focused on prosecuting and defending specific courts martial.
:cheers:
[EDIT: Returned to this thread on request of Capt Mark. FJAG as a former Legal Officer is familiar with this subject matter.]
