Before he finished his bachelor’s degree in history, Jeff Baldridge had a plan: His U.S. Army experience had led him to pursue a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy and become a military chaplain. When he was deployed to Iraq with the Army from 2010-2011, however, he decided to change course.
“I spent my rest and recuperation flight next to a Judge Advocate’s General Corps (JAG) from Baghdad to Salt Lake City. I picked his brain about what he did and why he enjoyed what he was doing. It was that experience, among others, that made me decide to prepare to take the LSAT when I returned to Iraq,” Baldridge recalls. “It was not long after I returned from Iraq that I took the LSAT and started law school in 2012.”
Finding a community in law school
Because he completed his undergraduate degree in Idaho, Baldridge was familiar with Utah Law and says the decision to attend here was an easy one.
“I loved the large university but the small feel of the law school. I knew most of my classmates and enjoyed the learning environment provided by the school,” he says.
The close-knit environment at the S.J. Quinney College of Law was also important when Baldridge and his family experienced a tragedy.
“During my 3L year, my second child was born with a severe congenital heart defect and died as a result of that issue. The law school community was my family,” he expresses. “I will always be grateful for the kindness and assistance of my fellow students, faculty, and the law school administration.”
Embarking on a career in public interest law
Though he had started his military career in the Army, Baldridge discovered while attending Utah Law that another military branch would be a better fit.
“I wanted to be a JAG. I did not know I wanted to be an Air Force JAG. Through the law school, I was able to complete clinics and an internship at Hill Air Force Base (in nearby Ogden, Utah),” he says. “After that experience, I knew I wanted to be an Air Force JAG. That decision has taken me to Oklahoma, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, another deployment to southwest Asia, and now my current station in Okinawa, Japan.”
Being a JAG can be challenging because of the duality of being a military officer and an attorney—there are obligations (like deployment) that a regular attorney won’t have, Baldridge explains—but a career in public interest law has also been rewarding.
“Every single day my work has meaningful impact on the national security of the United States. I do not need to seek out problems to solve; they simply appear,” he says. “It is my profound responsibility to guide command teams through complicated issues as they attempt to carry out their missions.”
Baldridge has also been satisfied with his salary and work load within public interest law and says law students should keep their options open.
“I haven’t billed a single hour in nearly nine years of practice and haven’t had to worry about how to collect payment to provide for my family. I’ve been able to focus on my client (the United States Air Force) and its legal needs,” he says. “Job satisfaction should be your goal. If you are simply seeking the highest-paying salary, you are likely missing opportunities.”
Want to explore a career in public interest law? Check out these public interest fellowships.