9685 Career Guide
9685: Labor Law Attorney
Career transition guide for Marine Corps Labor Law Attorney (9685)
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Real industry tech roles your 9685 background maps to — picked from BLS-anchored occupations using your training, cognitive skills, and systems experience.
Governance, Risk & Compliance Analyst
Security
Your experience with labor law, administrative law, and federal civil procedure directly translates to the compliance aspects of a GRC Analyst role. Your skills in negotiation and alternative dispute resolution will be valuable in managing risk and resolving compliance issues. You already understand systems like LexisNexis, which has analogs in compliance.
Typical stack:
Security Engineer
Security
Your background in labor law requires a strong understanding of regulatory frameworks and risk management, skills highly applicable to cybersecurity. Your procedural compliance and adversarial thinking skills are crucial for anticipating and mitigating security threats. Understanding legal research platforms like LexisNexis Military Advantage will help you research vulnerabilities.
Typical stack:
Technical Program Manager
Product
Your experience managing complex legal cases and understanding of procedural compliance makes you a candidate for a Technical Program Manager role. Your skills in after-action analysis and system modeling will enable you to effectively manage projects and optimize strategies. Your experience with case management software like Department of the Navy (DON) Tracker translates to managing software development projects.
Typical stack:
Skills You Already Have
Concrete bridges from 9685 experience to tech-industry practice.
- Adversarial Thinking→ Contract negotiations, dispute resolution, competitive analysis
- Procedural Compliance→ Regulated industries, legal standards
- After-Action Analysis→ Project evaluation, continuous improvement, strategic planning
- System Modeling→ Predicting consequences, optimizing strategies
- LexisNexis Military Advantage→ LexisNexis or Westlaw legal research platforms
- Department of the Navy (DON) Tracker→ Case management software (e.g., Clio, MyCase)
- Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS)→ Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) like Workday or PeopleSoft
- Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF)→ Electronic document management systems (EDMS) like Laserfiche or DocuWare
- Microsoft Teams (DoD Version)→ Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom
Skills to Learn
The concrete gap to bridge — specific to the roles above, not generic.
How VWC fits
Vets Who Code accelerates the parts we teach — software engineering fundamentals, web development, AI tooling. For everything else above, the path is doable independently with the resources we link to.
See VWC ProgramsCivilian Career Pathways
Top civilian roles for 9685 veterans, with average salary and market demand data.
Labor Relations Specialist
Human Resources Manager
Skills to develop:
Compliance Officer
Skills to develop:
Mediator/Arbitrator
Skills to develop:
Professor of Labor Law
Skills to develop:
Salary estimates from VWC career data
Hidden Strengths
Cognitive skills your 9685 training built — and where they transfer.
Adversarial Thinking
Labor lawyers in the military analyze opposing arguments and strategies in legal cases, anticipating challenges to their positions and developing counter-arguments to protect the Marine Corps' interests.
In the civilian world, you can apply this to contract negotiations, dispute resolution, or competitive analysis, where anticipating an opponent's moves and formulating responses is crucial for success.
Procedural Compliance
These judge advocates must meticulously adhere to complex statutory and regulatory guidelines within civilian personnel and labor law to ensure actions are legally sound and defensible.
This translates to a deep understanding and commitment to following established protocols and regulations, a key asset in regulated industries or roles requiring strict adherence to legal standards.
After-Action Analysis
After legal proceedings, labor lawyers analyze the outcomes and strategies employed to identify areas for improvement in future cases and refine their approach to legal challenges.
You can leverage this to evaluate project outcomes, identify lessons learned, and implement changes to improve future performance. This skill is highly valuable in roles focused on continuous improvement and strategic planning.
System Modeling
Military labor lawyers need to understand the complex interplay of laws, regulations, and policies governing civilian personnel to predict outcomes and develop effective legal strategies.
This skill translates into understanding how different components of a system interact, allowing you to predict consequences and optimize strategies in various professional environments.
Non-Obvious Career Matches
Compliance Officer
SOC 13-2000You've been immersed in the intricacies of labor law, ensuring adherence to complex regulations within the Marine Corps. This experience gives you a rock-solid foundation for a Compliance Officer role, where you'll be responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing compliance programs within an organization.
Human Resources Consultant
SOC 13-1141You've developed a deep understanding of civilian personnel law and its impact on the workforce. As an HR Consultant, you can use this expertise to advise organizations on best practices for employee relations, legal compliance, and talent management, helping them create a fair and productive work environment.
Mediator
SOC 29-2051You've honed your skills in resolving disputes and navigating adversarial situations. As a Mediator, you can utilize your expertise to facilitate communication and negotiation between conflicting parties, helping them reach mutually agreeable solutions in a variety of contexts, from workplace conflicts to commercial disputes.
Training & Education Equivalencies
Naval Justice School, Newport, RI (LL.M. Program)
Topics Covered
- •Federal Sector Labor Relations
- •Employment Discrimination Law
- •Wage and Hour Law
- •Administrative Law
- •Federal Civil Procedure
- •Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
- •Contract Law
- •Legal Writing and Research
Certification Pathways
Partial Coverage
Requires studying SHRM's Body of Competency and Knowledge (BoCK) related to HR strategy, talent acquisition, learning & development, compensation & benefits, and employee relations, with a focus on general HR practices rather than exclusively legal aspects.
Requires focused study on employee benefits design, administration, and compliance, including retirement plans, health & welfare benefits, and executive compensation, topics only partially covered by legal expertise.
Recommended Next Certifications
Technical Systems Translation
Military systems you've used and their civilian equivalents for your resume.
| Military System | Civilian Equivalent |
|---|---|
| LexisNexis Military Advantage | LexisNexis or Westlaw legal research platforms |
| Department of the Navy (DON) Tracker | Case management software (e.g., Clio, MyCase) |
| Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS) | Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) like Workday or PeopleSoft |
| Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) | Electronic document management systems (EDMS) like Laserfiche or DocuWare |
| Microsoft Teams (DoD Version) | Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom |
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