One of Fort Jackson's units was best in supply, now Fort Jackson's Office of the Staff Judge Advocate has one of the most exemplary Legal Assistance services.
The Army announced Monday that the Team Jackson legal assistance office won the 2015
Army Chief of Staff Award for Excellence in Legal Assistance in the Active Duty -- Medium
Offices category.
According to John Meixell, the chief of the Army's Legal Assistance Policy Division, "the
selection rate for winners in this year's competition reflects a careful evaluation of the applications,
recognizing only those offices that were truly exceptional."
The office won the Fiscal Year 15 award through its integration with outside organizations,
said Dorothy Edgerton, Fort Jackson's chief of legal assistance.
The fact Fort Jackson's legal assistance office battled with "significant" cutbacks and was
forced to cut services makes taking the recognition with limited assets sweeter, Edgerton said.
"It's the perfect active service -- Reserve component integration," she said. "The team
worked really hard with the Reserve component to bring needed services to Fort Jackson."
Winning the award "says we have a really strong team and work well together. We creatively reach out to our local communities for support" which helps "us bring services to our clients."
It also recognizes how the various legal assistance services such as the Special Victims Council helps the Fort Jackson community, she added.
Fort Jackson's partnerships with the Reserves and the Columbia community (especially the South Carolina Bar) made it possible for the legal assistance office to hold seminars to help educate the public on such things as identity theft.
"We can't solve the problem," Edgerton said. "So we try to get ahead of the problem and try to educate people."
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