It is recognized that in order to be a performing litigator, one needs experience and needs expertise. This was noted by the Bronson reports in 2008 and 2009.
We acknowledged that, and I've issued orders to my chief of staff that the vast majority of litigators who are part of the military justice system stay in place for a minimum period of five years. Of course, this will be done as per the director of military prosecutions' and director of defence counsel services' wishes as well, because certain people are just not cut out to be litigators, so they need to have the flexibility to say this person is not working and they will need a replacement.
That will build the expertise, but you're absolutely correct. We need to look at the entire organism that is the office of the JAG and see where we need to balance in order to ensure that there is also the generalist approach, because the office of the JAG is responsible for providing legal advice in all areas of military law and we need to develop the knowledge of it.
What I've asked for the support of the Canadian Armed Forces to do, and we've started this fall, is an occupational analysis of legal officers to see where we need the training, how long the posting should be, and what types of experience the legal officers need, whether they are litigators or generalists within the office of the JAG.
It's quite a long process. It usually takes five years in order for it to be meaningful. After we have completed the occupational analysis, we will be able to determine how we adjust our personnel management practices to ensure that we yield the best results for our clients.