A Different Take

My dad, himself a former JAG, has a different take on Legal Assistance (emphasis added).

"Legal assistance is one of the most valued and valuable services provided by an SJA office. One of the quickest way to ruin the reputation of an office is to provide poor legal assistance. The work is not easy, and can present some of the most varied and complex challenges available in a military legal practice. Very few JA want to work in the LA office, as it isn't seen as a career enhancing assignment, and is of no post-service value unless the JA wants to go into a small general practice. The choicest positons in an SJA office rarely go to the non-career JA.

It should be noted that neither of the Captains in the "choicest" positions are career JA. It will be interesting to see if the work tends toward the complex and challenging (think big time Medical Board Cases for one example), or if tends toward entering in pre-defined forms on a software package for Wills.