How to Choose a Civilian Military Lawyer

Note: As a preliminary matter, make sure your attorney actually spent time on active duty in the military. He needs to have a military background in order to comprehend how to handle your case. Make sure you’re not dealing with a referral law firm that claims to do military cases but has no actual military background. A firm like this will charge an exorbitantly high price, find some local attorney they can hand the case off to for a small fee, and pocket the rest of your money. You might also want to think twice about hiring an attorney who can’t project a military appearance in court.

The Three Most Important Rules

The most important legal advice we give friends, family, and criminal defense clients can be summarized in three points:

1.    You can’t talk yourself out of trouble.
2.    Never talk to government agents, even if you’re innocent.
3.    Always demand to speak to an attorney.

If you are being interrogated, that means the police suspect you of committing a crime. At that point, the police are not your friends, they don’t want to help you, and they don’t believe you. They are trained in the psychology of interrogations. They use their training and your fear to get you to say whatever they need you to say. Once they have some statement that they can call a confession, some of your words that they can twist to fit their purpose, they can wrap up the case. Even if you are innocent, you need to follow these three rules. Remember: You can’t talk yourself out of trouble, even if you’re telling the truth. Don’t talk to the police, since they’re not interested in helping you. Demand a lawyer, because unless you make a clear demand for an attorney the police don’t have to stop interrogating you. Don’t be fooled by threats, tricks, or promises. The police are allowed to lie to you, and they will. They will say they have eyewitnesses when it’s not true; they will tell you this is your last chance to clear your name, when it isn’t; they will promise you that if you talk, things will go easier for you. The truth is that if you talk, you make their lives easier and your life a nightmare.

Why You Need a Civilian Military Defense Lawyer

When you’re in trouble with the military, you need an attorney more than at any other time in your life, and you need one who has the skill and guts to fight your case. Just about any lawyer can get you through a guilty plea, but even if you’re guilty and want to take responsibility for what you have done, you need to have someone on your side who doesn’t start with the goal of pleading out your case.  Unfortunately, many appointed attorneys plead out almost all of their cases, and they often go into a case looking first and foremost for a deal. Typically, they will recommend taking the prosecutor’s first offer. Our position is that the government will almost never make an offer that’s worth taking, and they definitely won’t open negotiations with a good offer. In order to get the best deal, you have to be willing to fight and you need an attorney who can back you up. You also need an attorney who can tell whether the government is taking advantage of you by piling on additional, improper charges.

And if you want to fight your case all the way, you need an attorney who has skill, stamina, and courage. Your attorney needs to be so comfortable in court that he feels as though he owns every courtroom he walks into. It’s not enough that he is willing to present your case to a jury if he has to – you should require an attorney who looks forward to taking your case to a jury of your peers, because in a military trial that’s often then only real chance at justice you’ll have. Whether the case is going to be a guilty plea or fully contested, a key question should be whether the attorney thinks the case should be handled by a judge alone or by a jury.

The bottom line is that whether you plan to accept responsibility or fight the case, in order to give yourself the best possible defense you need a lawyer who is willing to stand up to the government.

What Qualities You Should Look for in a Civilian Military Attorney

As you look for an attorney for your court-martial, it should go without saying that your attorney should have done a lot of courts-martial in the military when he was on active duty, and he should be a full-time civilian military attorney now. In addition to military experience, focus on these qualities:

1. An attorney who has a lot of experience doing criminal jury trials.
2. An attorney who understands police interrogation and investigation methods.
3. An attorney who tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

A court-martial is not a place for the family’s favorite lawyer or the general practitioner. It’s not the place for the “military” lawyer who merely spent time in the military but spent most of his time behind a desk avoiding the courtroom. It’s also not a place for an attorney who specializes in civil litigation. Most criminal law trial attorneys see a lot of action in court, but most civil law trial attorneys don’t. Instead, civil law trial attorneys do a lot of depositions and writing. These skills are important but they are no substitute for the daily experience of life in criminal courtrooms, and they don’t expose an attorney to police tactics.

You also need to make sure your attorney doesn’t make false promises just to get your business. If he guarantees victory, find someone else. The most an attorney can guarantee you is to give his best effort. Criminal trial attorneys deal with ugly cases and they are used to dealing with uncomfortable facts. In the military, allegations of misconduct can carry a significantly more severe stigma than in civilian society. An ethical civilian court-martial attorney should have no problem dealing squarely with you and giving you an honest assessment of your case. He should also be eager to stand by your side, no matter what allegations are made against you.

The Kind of Court-Martial Trial Lawyer You Need

You want experience, skill, and integrity – and you want it all at a bargain price. Unfortunately, that’s not realistic. When you’re hiring an attorney you need to make some difficult choices.

1.    Integrity – hire the attorney you trust.
2.    Experience and Skill – look for quality, not just quantity.
3.    Cost – Cheap is usually more expensive in the long run.

Integrity is the most important quality to look for. You need an attorney who will listen to you, tell you the truth, and insist that you tell him the truth in return. You don’t need an attorney who will say whatever has to in order to get your business, or to make you feel better about your situation or yourself. If your attorney is weak with you, you can expect him to be weak when he’s dealing with the government. Based on your review of the attorney’s website, and based on your discussions with him, you’ll get a feel for whether you trust him. If you trust your attorney, that’s the best reason to hire him.

Experience and skill are essential, but you need to consider what kind of experience you’re looking for. By asking the right questions, you will be able to determine whether your attorney has the kind of experience you want.

Years In Practice: An attorney with relatively little trial experience may have other qualities you want: intelligence, integrity, guts. On the other hand, an attorney with decades of experience may seem tired, absent-minded, or so busy that he’s distracted from your case. Years of practice are not enough to determine whether a particular attorney is right for your case. Find out what kind of cases he has done and whether he has much jury trial experience, and get a feel for the kind of energy and enthusiasm he’s going to put into your case.

Former Prosecutors: Most military defense attorneys began their careers as prosecutors, and this can be either a good thing or a bad thing. Some are very good at discovering police misconduct because they have a great understanding of how the cops work. They may also be good at figuring out the weaknesses in the defense’s case, which will help you prepare better for trial. But others got very poor training, spent their prosecutorial careers doing guilty pleas, and have no real idea of how to keep someone out of prison. Some of them are also inclined to side with the government because it’s in their nature, and this kind of prosecutor won’t drive a hard bargain and won’t be skeptical about government misconduct.

Geographic location: This should be your lowest priority. A real civilian military attorney will be admitted to practice in all military courts. He will have spent his entire career traveling far and wide to represent military members. The truth is that even appointed attorneys often represent members who are outside their geographic location. Because almost all of the pretrial process is handled by phone, fax, and email, geography isn’t an issue unless the case actually goes to court. At that point, your attorney can travel to the installation. This is how we have been able to successfully represent military members all across the United States and overseas. It’s better to hire someone out of state who can do an excellent job than to hire the general practitioner down the street who doesn’t have an outstanding track record doing your kind of case.

You have to ask the right questions to determine what kind of experience is right for your case. 

Money is always a big concern, even for the wealthy. However, when it comes to criminal defense, when you go cheap as your first priority you can get cheap services. It has been said that cheap is more expensive in the long run, and that’s often true when it comes to defending a criminal case. If a murder case typically costs $50,000 or more to defend, you should be concerned if an attorney says he can do the case for $5,000. On the other hand, it’s not necessarily true that by spending top dollar you’ll get the best service. Some of the most expensive criminal defense attorneys are the ones who have been around the longest – the ones who may seem absent-minded, too busy, or tired. For some of them, they will be happy to land a few cases a year at inflated prices, rather than a steady supply of cases at reasonable prices.

It’s easy to get confused about the financial commitment you need to make when hiring a civilian attorney. If you call around, you can get estimates ranging from $10,000 to $65,000 for the exactly the same case. You need to take time to read through the attorney’s website, talk to him to get a feel for his personality and skill level, and then factor in the financial considerations. Price is always a factor, but it shouldn’t be the reason you select one attorney over another.

One thing to watch for is whether a law firm has any “escalation” clauses in its fee estimate. Some firms quote you a price that only includes a certain numbers of days, and a certain number of work hours in a day. If your case goes beyond those minimum time periods, the escalation clauses will kick in and may result in you paying much higher fees than you expected. Our firm does not use escalation clauses. What you see is what you get.