Highly experienced officers of the JAG Corps often serve as military judges in courts-martial and courts of inquiry.
The services also have enlisted soldiers with specific paralegal training that provide support to judge advocates, although accession and scope of duty are also branch-specific.
In addition to acting as paralegals to military attorneys, JAG enlisted often provide limited paralegal services such as drafting commonly used legal documents for service members and their families, providing guidance to unit commands regarding the administrative and disciplinary procedure, and acting as notaries.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, judge advocates typically join the JAG Corps after graduating from law school.
The UCMJ was created by an act of the United States Congress in 1951 in order to establish relatively consistent systems of military justice in all branches of the nation's armed forces.
(Such cases are governed by UCMJ Article 15 and are called non-judicial punishment, Captain's Mast (Navy), or Office Hours (Marines).)
In addition to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, personnel are subject to the terms of the Constitution, other federal laws, and individual state laws where applicable (e.g., whenever the service member is in the United States, unless on a military base with exclusive federal jurisdiction).
Each military service and the Coast Guard has a Court of Criminal Appeals, which is composed of panels of three appellate military judges: These courts review all cases in which the approved sentence includes death, a punitive discharge, or confinement for at least a year, and all cases referred to it by the service Judge Advocate General.
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) consists of five civilian judges appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, to 15-year terms.
Unlike the service courts of criminal appeals, the CAAF "shall take action only with respect to matters of law."
Besides prosecuting, defending, and presiding over courts-martial, military attorneys advise commanders on issues involving a number of areas of law.
The Army's JAG School is the only military law center that has full American Bar Association accreditation.