Interesting e-mail from an insider. I have bowdlerized it to protect the
innocent.
“Mr. Derbyshire—You correctly observe that the ‘pampered darlings of our
educational meritocracy’ who work at white-shoe law firms have not on the
whole performed military service. I was honorably discharged from the Navy
Judge Advocate General’s Corps on [date supplied], and was distressed to
receive the following news from a legal recruiter (her words): ‘The
responses I’ve gotten focus on your lack of private firm experience. As an
example, my contact at [name of firm] said they rarely hire from JAG for
just that reason. My contact at [name of another firm], a much smaller
firm, said essentially the same thing, citing a need to ‘get off the ground
running’. I wish this was a more positive response for you, however, I
think that the firms I’ve contacted represent a the broad spectrum of the
[name of large U.S. metropolis] market.’ In other words, at least some
prestigious firms have a policy of not hiring Judge Advocates coming off
active duty.
“The pampered law school leftists particularly dislike the JAG Corps because
of the military’s ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on homosexuality, and
protest on campus when we attempt to recruit. They would rather that such
an odious institution as the United States military never set foot on their
pristine campus. I suspect their snobbery extends to their hiring practices
once they enter private practice.”