Are There Local Military Attorneys for Courts-Martial
People often ask if you need a local attorney for a court-martial. You’ve already made an excellent decision to search for a civilian attorney to help with your court-martial, military investigation, or sexual assault case, but who should you hire?
The point we always make to people is that there are very few attorneys in the world who focus their practice and careers in military sexual assault defense. Our firm is one of those firms, and our attorneys are the ones who are best prepared to do that. Just because an attorney is down the road from you doesn’t mean that they are best qualified to represent you. So many military bases have a billboard outside the base that advertises a local attorney as a court martial attorney, but they also handle DUI, family law, wills, trusts, and estates. They try to do everything for that one little military community and they try to make a decent living doing it.
The problem is that you are not being best served by having an attorney who is so widely spread and doesn’t focus on military criminal law. Our attorneys have dozens of courts-martial every year in sexual assault defense, and we’ve had many hundreds of military jury trials over our careers. We’ve represented thousands of military members who were facing allegations of sexual assault, where it never even made it to a court-martial. When you are thinking about whether you need an attorney who focuses their practice on military sexual assault and court-martial actions, look only for the attorneys who do this every day.
Can I Hire Any Lawyer Who Claims to be a Military Attorney?
Any attorney can represent someone in a military court-martial but not any attorney is going to do a good job. Many attorneys don’t have the background you are looking for, whether that means they didn’t previously serve in the military or they are just not familiar with the military. Oftentimes, you have people who advertise their services because they happen to have their law firm just outside of a base but they aren’t focused on the military justice system in any sort of regard, even if they did serve in the military. What you are looking for in civilian attorney for a military issue is someone who has the type of experience that makes you trust that individual — and that should be more than just a law degree.
It’s a good idea to have an attorney who served in uniform. It gives them the background they need. Did they serve as a judge advocate? What positions did they hold? Did they have a specialized position? Were they ranked well? Did they have trust within the military? That’s all important because they likely continue to have those connections to this day. When you are talking to an attorney about what their background is, find someone who makes you feel good about the experience they are bringing to your case.
Is It True That If I Hire An Attorney, Things Will Be Harder For Me?
We have not had a single case where we got feedback from a commander who said that they went harder on someone because they hired a civilian attorney. People in the military respect the idea that people are fighting for their careers. If that means hiring an attorney to help you best represent yourself, you should absolutely do that.
In fact, most of the feedback we get from commanders, prosecutors, and jurors is that hiring a civilian counsel demonstrates just how important the matter is to our client. The impression is that if you are fighting hard, you believe in your own innocence. Those who just stick with the military attorney may be seen as less dedicated to their own cause as someone who brings is a powerhouse legal team.
Desperately trying to save yourself means hiring an attorney focused on military justice. If you have cancer, you don’t just go to your family physician to resolve the issue; you go to the best oncologist and you try to get the best specialized care you can. That same sort of attitude requires you to find the very best attorney focused on the area of law you need. That’s us, and we are here to fight for you.
