JAG Officers on Starfleet Vessels

[Dingo]

I'm currently working through a plot bunny that popped into my head after watching both Law and Order and Voyager back to back over the last day or so. I thought to make several Law and Order characters as JAG officers on various Starfleet vessels.

Other than advising the captain of legal issues what could a Starfleet JAG be useful for on nearly any vessel? My query is more DS9 and Voyager related if that helps any.

 

[Markonian]

FWIF, we've k my seen Starfleet JAG officers as stationed on starbases, or one-time mission specialists.

In the novel series Star Trek: Vanguard, Captain Rana Desai is the head of the station's JAG team. Intermittently, she travels to the planets under the purview of the starbase (it's the centre of a colonial effort).

I don't see how generic Starfleet vessels would need one. Might be different in the 26th century, when you have Universe-class starships with a population of 50k people each.

 

[Dingo]

Thanks for the insight. I'm thinking for maybe specific missions they might need one. For example I'm thinking that they'd need one for the Voyager mission pursuing a Maquis vessel. I'm sure a JAG lawyer specializing in treaties would be handy since during the time of the Maquis crisis Starfleet had to deal with the Cardassians a lot.

 

[Markonian]

It would be sufficient for the Starfleet vessel to capture the Maquis and deliver them to the nearest starbase. Otherwise, there'd be the risk that the JAG becomes a political/protocol officer who threatened to countermand a captain's order (think of Sisko's hunt of Eddington). Maybe a protocol officer with additional duties could do the trick?

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm sure a JAG lawyer specializing in treaties would be handy since during the time of the Maquis crisis Starfleet had to deal with the Cardassians a lot.

DS9 was at the forefront of the Maquis and frequently dealt with the Cardassians in that time period, and they didn't have a JAG officer assigned to the station. Indeed, when Worf was court-martialed in Rules of Engagement, a visiting JAG officer was brought in from somewhere else.

 

[CAPTRousseau]

Thanks for the insight. I'm thinking for maybe specific missions they might need one. For example I'm thinking that they'd need one for the Voyager mission pursuing a Maquis vessel. I'm sure a JAG lawyer specializing in treaties would be handy since during the time of the Maquis crisis Starfleet had to deal with the Cardassians a lot.

Regarding TOS & Vanguard (and the Wagon Train to the Stars concept) a JAG officer probably wouldn't need to be stationed onboard a starship on a regular basis. They would be as close as the nearest starbase. However, as mentioned, they would be of use during a diplomatic mission to discuss treaties. Or maybe they could make rounds of the different frontier colonies to act as a prosecutor, or circuit judge? Or to represent Starfleet on a high profile crime, at the request of a UFP member that did not have that capability? Which would open the door to other concepts. Could there be a Starfleet Investigative Service to act as territorial marshals? Or to provide a crime lab?
Not Law and Order, but more JAG/NCIS with a little Bass Reeves(Real life US Marshal, in OK Territory), Sean Connery (a Federal Marshal, in Outland) and a dash of Sgt Preston of the Yukon. (why DO you think they wear those red shirts?)

 

[Nerys Myk]

Thanks for the insight. I'm thinking for maybe specific missions they might need one. For example I'm thinking that they'd need one for the Voyager mission pursuing a Maquis vessel. I'm sure a JAG lawyer specializing in treaties would be handy since during the time of the Maquis crisis Starfleet had to deal with the Cardassians a lot.

Sounds more like a job for a diplomat than a lawyer

 

[Markonian]

However, as mentioned, they would be of use during a diplomatic mission to discuss treaties. Or maybe they could make rounds of the different frontier colonies to act as a prosecutor, or circuit judge? Or to represent Starfleet on a high profile crime, at the request of a UFP member that did not have that capability?

That'd be like an Army tribunal performing civil cases.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'd think the main role of a JAG officer on a starship would be getting ferried to their next post.

 

[CAPTRousseau]

That'd be like an Army tribunal performing civil cases.

It would. There are occasions where that would happen. A war crime or piracy case for example.

 

[Space Coast]

It would. There are occasions where that would happen. A war crime or piracy case for example.

Exactly the sort of shenanigans that make for interesting plot ideas.

 

[Markonian]

It would. There are occasions where that would happen. A war crime or piracy case for example.

But the idea was that the JAG would be the go-to judge, thus handling every case. Not advisable.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I think any JAG officers on Starfleet vessels would be less likely be JAG lawyers and more of likely to be JAG investigators with political/legal training intended to be used lead cases with "conflict of interest" or "Federation security" implications (more of a hybrid of JAG and OSI/NCIS/CID hybrid) deemed to "complex" for regular Starfleet security officers. It's possible that the Starfleet Criminal Investigative Service (referenced in the CoE novels) may be this.

 

[Kevman7987]

*Kirk notices the door to the atomic pile was left open*
It looks like someone...
*puts on sunglasses*
forgot to close the barn door after the horses came home.
*YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH*

Spoiler

Ben Finney's the murderer

 

[Timo]

It is rather impractical for Starfleet to have to summon people from across interstellar distances to do trials and courts of inquiry and whatnot, even on apparently well-established locations like Starbase 11.

We do see one instance of a big starship having people with the proficiency or formal clearance to do lawyer stuff (Riker in "Measure of a Man"), including in situations of potential conflict of interest. And we regularly see our heroes engage in investigation in the field of law enforcement, in addition to execution of said enforcement. In light of that, what's inconsistent is that the JAG office even separately exists...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Jedman67]

The JAG has to be outside of the ships chain of command (other than the military courtesy of deferring to senior officer's commands in regards to running of the ship) so there's no conflict of interest.
I think the JAG series is a good place to start your imagination running, stuff like accidental firing, deaths in combat (an investigation should be required to ensure that everyone did their jobs) piracy and simple legal counsel to any officer.

 

[J.T.B.]

We might ask, do JAG officers go to sea in real naval vessels? For the US Navy, yes they do, in a few limited cases. One, on a super-carrier. You get six thousand people in one place, there will be enough legal issues to keep a lawyer and a handful of legalmen (enlisted paralegals) busy. Two, as legal counsel on the staff of an admiral or commodore. This happens a lot with maritime security/enforcement operations, when fine points of international law come up.

For pretty much any other ship, there will be a yeoman (or maybe personnel specialist) familiar with common legal procedures (like wills) in the ship's administrative office. A big gator like an LHD might have one legalman (first class or chief). One of the ship's officers with some legal knowledge will have a second hat as legal officer as needed.

The JAG has to be outside of the ships chain of command (other than the military courtesy of deferring to senior officer's commands in regards to running of the ship) so there's no conflict of interest.

Nah, there's no conflict of interest unless the commanding officer or maybe one of the senior officers is being investigated for something, and that would be handled by staff from a higher echelon.

 

[The Wormhole]

I think the JAG series is a good place to start your imagination running, stuff like accidental firing, deaths in combat (an investigation should be required to ensure that everyone did their jobs) piracy and simple legal counsel to any officer.

A problem I had with the TV series JAG is that like every other courtroom drama on TV, all it takes is the lead to deliver an impassioned speech about justice and honour and he automatically wins the case, even in situations where the other lawyer had up until then been making more convincing arguments.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

It is rather impractical for Starfleet to have to summon people from across interstellar distances to do trials and courts of inquiry and whatnot, even on apparently well-established locations like Starbase 11.

We do see one instance of a big starship having people with the proficiency or formal clearance to do lawyer stuff (Riker in "Measure of a Man"), including in situations of potential conflict of interest. And we regularly see our heroes engage in investigation in the field of law enforcement, in addition to execution of said enforcement. In light of that, what's inconsistent is that the JAG office even separately exists...

Timo Saloniemi

There's also "Court Martial", "The Menagerie", "A Matter of Perspective", "A Man Alone", "Dax" and "Rules of Engagement".

In the first, only the prosecutor is JAG, the defence is civilian and the "judges" are regular Starfleet, the second, third and fourth appear to have no JAG involvement at all, and the last returns to the "Measure of the Man" format where only the "judge" is JAG.

At the very least, most if not all of the above examples should have included more use of enlisted legal advisors (legalman or clerks) even if the situation didn't permit the use of additional dedicated JAG officers (the DS9 examples are the only ones where the lack of additional JAG isn't explained as MoaM suggests that SB375 (Ross' command) should have had JAG personnel even if DS9 itself didn't warrant them in the early days).

 

[Tenacity]

The JAG officer could be a lower ranked officer who would have multiple duties, one of which is being the JAG officer ("JAG afloat"). They might also be separately the ship's legal officer.

Maybe the records officer could be this officer of many hats