Judge Advocate General's Corps Detachment
All starbases and some major starships have a detachment of the Starfleet Judge Advocate General's Corps present to advise their commanding officers and shipmates on legal matters, facilitate any necessary legal proceedings, and, if necessary, serve in a prosecutorial capacity in investigations against members of Starfleet. While members of the crew, JAG personnel also have their own lines of reporting to the JAG Corps.
Duties
The Starfleet Uniform Code of Justice, Federation Law, and Interstellar Law are all extremely complex, which is why the JAG Corps exists in the first place: to advise Starfleet officers in legal matters and, when necessary, to enforce the law. Judge Advocates function as counselors, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges, depending on the situation. They are especially useful in situations where complex legal networks must be navigated, such as when a starship must interact with the laws and customs of a new planet for the first time.
- Document and interpret the legal systems of newly encountered governments, to help build a larger understanding of interstellar jurisprudence.
- Advise a unit's commanding officer on legal issues ranging from personnel issues, the impact of interstellar or other foreign law on the unit's mission, and when a general court-martial must be called.
- Advise fellow crewmembers on legal issues ranging from civil and family law, to the UCJ and events such as separation from Starfleet, disciplinary proceedings, or other such matters.
- Support the proceedings of any courts-martial, as counselors for the prosecution and/or defense, and as advisor to the convening authority (generally a flag-grade officer).
- A general court-martial (i.e. a full trial with a jury) would need to be convened by a flag officer and include a jury of command-grade officers, advised by the JAG Corps. If only one JAG officer is available, they would serve as the prosecutor. If a second is available, they would serve as defense counsel. Otherwise, the unit's XO must serve as prosecutor and the unit's CO must serve as defense counsel.
- A special court-martial (without a jury) can be convened by a command-grade officer (i.e. a starship captain) if a defendant waives their rights to a jury trial. Counsel arrangements would be as in a general court-martial.
- When jurisdiction allows, independently hold and adjudicate hearings and courts-martial.
- Sector Judge Advocates are empowered to convene and rule on administrative hearings.
Judge advocates must have a law degree and must be commissioned officer. Judge advocates who are commissioned through Starfleet Academy start at the rank of lieutenant junior grade, as with counselors and physicians, to recognize the longer time they spent in their studies.
Sector Judge Advocate General's Corps Offices
Sector Judge Advocate Stations are found in each sector of the Federation on that sector's headquarters starbase. A JAG Station consists of the Sector Judge Advocate and their staff as well as JAG Detachments placed on starbases. In turn, Sector JAG Stations report to Regional Judge Advocates who cover several sectors and report to the Judge Advocate General of Starfleet.
Sector Judge Advocate
A Sector Judge Advocate is the senior legal official for a given area of space, generally stationed on that sector's command starbase. They are very senior JAG officers with wide-ranging authority in their area, both advising the flag officer in command of the sector and trying cases at their own discretion, as necessary. While Staff and Command Judge-Advocates do not themselves serve as judges but advise the relevant command or flag officer to do so, Sector Judge-Advocates have the power sit over courts-martial for lesser offenses and to hold administrative hearings themselves. They report to the Judge Advocate General's Office, and typically hold the rank of captain to rear admiral.
Deputy Sector Judge Advocate
The Deputy Sector Judge Advocate assists the Sector Judge Advocate in their duties. They are often deputized to hold hearings for minor infractions, especially when the Sector Judge Advocate is away on other matters. They must have significant courtroom experience and typically hold the ranks of commander or captain.
Starbase Judge Advocate General's Corps Detachments
All starbases have a Judge Advocate General's Corps Detachment, though on minor stations this may consist of only one judge advocate. They provide legal services and make prosecutorial decisions on these bases, and are generally arranged into three sections: legal defense, prosecution, and legal services. The officers in JAG detachments are all staff judge advocates with various degrees of seniority. Not all of the titles listed here are present in every detachment, especially smaller ones. For instance, in a two-person detachment there may only be a staff judge advocate and an assistant staff judge advocate, or when there are three there may be a supervising staff judge advocate and two staff judge advocates, without a senior supervising staff judge advocate. These detachments report to the Sector Judge Advocate General's Corps Station on the sector's headquarters starbase. The headquarters starbase will also have its own detachment that serves the legal needs of the starbase directly.
All of the Judge Advocates in a Starbase JAG Corps Detachment are Staff Judge Advocates of various ranks, and it is correct to simply refer to them all in informal terms as Staff Judge Advocates. Smaller detachments may not use all of the titles available—an office of three Judge Advocates could have just a Supervising Staff Judge Advocate and two Staff Judge Advocates, for instance. The positions listed here are what a large starbase would use when fully staffed.
Supervising Staff Judge Advocate
The Supervising Staff Judge Advocate (SSJA) is the leader of the detachment, the senior legal official present and chief advisor to the starbase's commanding officer on legal matters. They assign their staff members to cases and have oversight on charging decisions for misdemeanor offenses. They also make recommendations to the starbase commanding officer on charges for felony offenses. These officers typically have at least a decade of service under their belts and hold the rank of lieutenant commander or commander.
Deputy Supervising Staff Judge Advocate
Deputy Supervising Staff Judge Advocates (DSSJA) are second-in-command of detachments, supervising the associate staff judge advocates and handling high profile cases themselves. This is considered a mid-career assignment, and DSSJAs can hold the ranks of lieutenant, lieutenant commander, or commander.
Associate Staff Judge Advocate
Associate Staff Judge Advocates are mid-career judge advocates who lead the Criminal, Administrative, or Civil section of a JAG detachment, reporting to the Deputy Supervising Staff Judge Advocate and supervising the work of the Assistant Staff Judge Advocates under them.
Assistant Staff Judge Advocate
Assistant Staff Judge Advocates (ASJA) form the majority of any JAG Detachment and are are fully qualified lawyers capable of handling civil, administrative, and criminal cases. They do most of the day-to-day work in their detachments, especially litigation. Most staff judge advocates in JAG detachments are lieutenants of either grade or lieutenant commanders.
Paralegal Specialist
Paralegal specialists are enlisted members of Starfleet trained in legal research, document preparation, and other ways of assisting JAG officers. They go through substantial training to be able to be as effective as possible. This is a related career track to being a yeoman, and there is cross-over between these two career paths. A starship with a Staff Judge Advocate would have one to two paralegal specialists, while a starbase with a sector-level JAG office might have several dozen.
Shipboard JAG Detachments
Most starships do not have onboard JAG Detachments, particularly cruisers and smaller vessels operating mostly within Federation territory, as they would simply utilize the services of the JAG Detachment on the nearest starbase. Large vessels and vessels selected for long-duration missions might carry their own detachments, though, to provide legal advice to the crew and to assist the captain in navigating matters of interstellar law. Such a detachment would consist of one or two Staff Judge Advocates. In some situations, the role of Diplomatic Officer and Staff JAG are combined. Shipboard JAG detachments report to the Staff Judge Advocate of the unit they are a part of; all JAG detachments in the Fourth Fleet would then ultimately report to the Staff Judge Advocate, Fourth Fleet.
Unit Judge Advocate Positions
Command Judge Advocate
An individual unit (such as a squadron or task force) will often have a staff judge advocate assigned directly to manage the legal affairs of that unit and advise its commanding officer, who is known simply as the command judge advocate. The larger the unit, the higher the rank of their command judge advocate. For squadrons, task groups, and task forces, the command judge advocate would also generally be the leader of the JAG detachment on the flagship, if present. For numbered fleets, the command judge advocate is both the advisor to that fleet's commander and a distinct part of the JAG hierarchy known as a Fleet Judge Advocate.This person is almost always a flag officer who has had previous experience as a sector JAG. Command JAGs in have prosecutorial oversight over their units and make recommendations to the commanding officer on legal matters, including the oversight of disciplinary measures taken by captains in those units. Any decisions made during disciplinary proceedings in that unit would be appealed first to the Staff JAG who would then either refer that matter to the commanding officer or deny it.
JAG Corps Detachments In-Play
- On screen, we have seen many facets of real-world Judge-Advocates replicated in the practice of Starfleet JAG officers, namely that JAG officers serve in both legal and judicial roles, while non-JAG flag officers serve as judges in disciplinary and criminal cases. Senior JAG officers are able to make rulings in administrative matters themselves.
- In TOS, Commodore Stone serves as the judge along with a panel of command officers to try the criminal case of Captain Kirk, while the JAG officer serves as prosecutor.
- On TNG, Captain Louvois serves as judge in an administrative hearing to determine whether or not Data is sentient, a decision she seems to have the final say on herself.
- On DS9, several flag officers (including the Starfleet JAG himself) made summary rulings on various legal matters.
- As seen by neither the original Enterprise nor the Enterprise-D having their own JAG officers aboard, most starships would not carry a JAG Corps Detachment unless they are a flagship or a very large ship sent on a long-distance mission, where her captain might need such legal counsel out of contact from command.
- Most minor stations would have at least a token JAG presence, reporting to the sector command starbase's JAG office, which would be fully-staffed.
- Why would you want a JAG officer on your station or base? The main story reason would be to conduct a court-martial. Another reason would be to help a captain navigate a tricky area of interstellar law, such as in a complex trade negotiation, getting access to an archaeological site, or intervening when a crewmember breaks local laws.