The Excess Leave Program (ELP) for Law School provides commissioned Airmen and Guardians and/or USAF Academy cadets the opportunity to apply to attend law school and become judge advocates. Through the ELP, officers are responsible for all application expenses, tuition, and fees, and they do not receive pay or allowances. However, service members participating in the ELP continue to accrue time for promotion and retirement purposes and remain eligible for other active duty benefits (i.e. medical). The active duty service commitment (ADSC) for the ELP is four years active duty and four years inactive reserve.

Officers

To be eligible to apply for assignment under the Excess Leave Program, an applicant must satisfy the following criteria:

• Be a commissioned officer in the USAF on extended active duty
• Have served on active duty (enlisted and/or commissioned service) for a period of not less than two years and no more than 10 years based upon the total active federal military service date at the time legal training begins
  • Active Federal Service Exceptions. Periods of attendance at United States Service Academies do not count towards computation of the total active federal military service date with the exception of periods spent at the USAFA Preparatory School
  • Service credit acquired during participation in the Excess Leave Program does count towards computation of federal active service if personnel later apply for the Funded Legal Education Program
• Be in pay grade O-3 (with less than three years’ time in grade as an O-3) or below at the time legal training begins
• Be a graduate of a regionally accredited college or university with a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent at the time the selection board meets
• Discuss this program with their functional manager at AFPC and obtain a conditional release from their career field should the Judge Advocate General (TJAG) select them for ELP
• If rated and on flying status, have served three years from the date of completion of the training which resulted in the award of an aeronautical rating as of the first day of legal training. If selected, applicants for the program who are on flying status must provide a separate request for voluntary disqualification from aviation service. AF/JAX will forward this request to AFPC for those applicants selected for the program. AFPC will publish aeronautical orders terminating the applicant’s flying status, effective the date of class entry.

USAFA Cadets

To be eligible to apply for assignment under USAFA Excess Leave Program, an applicant must:

• Be a USAFA cadet in their senior year, in good standing; and
  • If a legal studies major, have a minimum 3.25 Grade Point Average (GPA); or
  • DAFI 51-101 5.9.1.2.3. - If not a legal studies major, have a minimum 3.5 GPA and experience on the cadet Mock Trial team and/or the cadet Moot Court program
• Grade eligibility will be determined using the applicant’s GPA as of the end of the senior fall semester.

The Excess Leave Program (ELP) for Law School provides both commissioned Airmen and Guardians and/or USAF Academy cadets the opportunity to apply to attend law school and become judge advocates.

Prerequisites:

Applicants must meet the following prerequisites:

Apply to an ABA-approved law school and furnish a statement listing law schools where the applicant has been accepted or has applied by the application deadline. Note: Do not delay the application process awaiting final acceptance by a law school. To participate, applicants ultimately must be accepted unconditionally for fall entry to a fulltime program at an ABA-approved law school located in the United States. TJAG reserves the authority to specify the law school that the applicant will attend.

Application Procedures:

Service members can apply on-line at: https://jagusaf.jag.af.mil. Applicants must upload the following items when applying:

• Motivational Statement (limited to 1 page, double-spaced)
• Resume
• Full-length [Head to Toe] photograph facing forward (Maximum File Size: 1 MB) in courtroom attire. If applying for Ed-Delay or ELP, you must be in uniform (service dress) in the full length photograph
• Law School Acceptance Letters (if applying for Ed-Delay In)
• List of Applications to Law Schools
• Law School Transcripts
• Undergraduate Transcript
• LSAT Percentile (LSAT Report Score Sheet)
• Bar Certificate or Letter of Good Standing (if licensed)
• DD Form 214 (if prior military)
• Officer Performance Reports or Enlisted Performance Reports (if applicable)
• Officer SURF and Training Reports
• Release Letter from AFPC Functional Manager
• FLEP/ELP Agreement
• AF ROTC Field Training Report (if applicable)
• Writing Sample (Optional - 10 pages or less)
• Letter(s) of Recommendation (Optional - up to five)
  • Letters of recommendation should be written by someone who can attest to the applicant’s work ethic, duty performance, and leadership potential
  • Address all letters to “Selection Board Members” at the address below. DO NOT mail recommendation letters directly to the selection board. The address below is provided only for inclusion in letters of recommendation.

HQ USAF/JAX
1500 W. Perimeter Road, Ste. 3330
Joint Base Andrews, MD 20762

The online application allows the applicant to select the Air Force Base where they would like to have their Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) interview. When the online application is submitted, the SJA or a representative from the legal office will contact the applicant to schedule an interview. 

Legal Internships:

During the first two years of the program, officers must participate in legal internships during summer breaks. Internships must begin within two calendar days of the officer’s last examination or class and may not end earlier than two calendar days before the start of fall classes. Contact Air Force Institute of Technology and The Professional Development Directorate (AF/JAX) with the beginning and end dates of your summer break along with the names of the closest DAF installations. AF/JAX will make internship assignments.

During winter break periods extending 14 calendar days or more, officers may perform internships if the following conditions are met:

• The student must have already performed a summer internship at a DAF installation
• Winter internships are only available to students who attend law school at an institution in the same local area as a DAF installation. Officers must work a minimum of 10 duty days during the winter internship period. Leave is not authorized during the winter internship. Pay and allowances will be authorized for these periods.

Transferring from ELP to Funded Legal Education Program

Officers selected for the ELP may later apply to the Funded Legal Education Program (FLEP) provided they meet FLEP eligibility and tuition requirements. USAFA Excess Leave Program participants are not eligible. The minimum Active Duty Service Commitment (ADSC) for individuals who start participation in the ELP and then later complete their legal training in the FLEP is five years (e.g., two years as ELP and one year as FLEP = five years ADSC; one year as ELP and two years as FLEP = five years and four months ADSC).

Upon Graduation:

Upon completion of law school, the individual officer is responsible for the fees and expenses of bar review courses and bar examinations.

An officer’s excess leave status will automatically terminate two calendar days after completion of the bar examination or graduation from law school, whichever is later.

Officers must obtain a legal license as soon as possible and take the first scheduled bar examination following graduation from law school.

Active Duty Service Commitment (ADSC): Participation in the ELP results in a four-year ADSC if the program is completed. If the program is not completed, participants will have an ADSC of one month for each month of participation.

Department of Air Force Instructions 51-101
https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_ja/publication/dafi51-101/dafi51-101.pdf

The Judge Advocate General’s Corps
https://www.afjag.af.mil

U.S. Air Force Careers
https://www.airforce.com/careers/specialty-careers/jag

Air Force Institute of Technology
https://www.afit.edu/CIP/page.cfm?page=1638

U.S. Air Force Academy Education and Leave Programs
https://www.usafa.edu/education-leave-programs/