In my current position I am the senior defense counsel for the Navy. I am responsible for 180+ legal professionals assigned to 22 legal offices around the world. The Navy defense counsel enterprise provides representation for every Navy and Coast Guard member that faces a criminal or administrative process. This includes all courts-martial, administrative separation boards or any other administrative or punitive process. During my time in this position the military justice system has gone through a historic transition, and I am the senior leader responsible for making sure Navy and Coast Guard defense counsel have the training, resources and organizational structure to meet the challenges of this transition. I am specifically responsible for expanding the size of the defense counsel structure by 24 additional positions and establishing independent funding and resources for defense counsel trial preparation, expert consultant support and investigations.

As Inspector General for the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps I was responsible for the assessment of 71 legal offices and several large investigations. I lead a team of eight subject matter experts that conducted inspections to ensured compliance with federal law and Department of Defense and Navy regulations and policy. Our team created detailed reports for senior leadership identifying areas of concern as well as best practices that could be applied in other areas of our organization. My second area of responsibility was to conduct investigations into a broad range of potential violations of law and policy for the Navy Inspector General. In addition to the investigations assigned by the Inspector General I was hand-picked as the primary legal advisor for several large-scale investigations of high-vis incidents including the investigation of a federal law enforcement agency and a major fire resulting in the loss of a capital ship.

I lead an office of 46 legal professionals providing a full range of legal services to Navy members and Navy commands in the Midwestern area of the United States. I was solely responsible for criminal investigations and prosecutions, a wide range of administrative processes and hearings, ethics advice, compliance with federal law and regulations and providing legal assistance to individual service members. Major mission areas included legal support for the Navy’s only boot camp, all of the Navy’s ROTC programs and several major training commands. The command was recognized as the best supported command by the Navy Reserve Component and earned the Navy Retention Excellence Award.

I was the primary legal advisor and a senior manager for all of the Navy’s administrative processes including command screening boards, separation boards, boards of inquiry, talent management processes and all statutory promotion boards and related administrative processes. I was responsible for ensuring strict compliance with Title 10 United States Code and Department of Defense and Department of the Navy regulations and policy. I provided advice directly to senior leadership regarding the applicable law and regulations and how to implement programs and processes to meet both legal requirements and support the policy and priorities of Navy leadership. I was the primary legal advisor to senior executives responsible for Navy military work force requirements and career development policies and responsible for drafting detailed executive level directives and other internal and external facing documents which accurately established, communicated and clarified Navy policy and procedures.I authored, interpreted and enforced statutory provisions and DoD policies on manpower issues and ensured timely and responsive advice on over 5000 legal issues. I also provided legal review of all Navy Personnel Command Inspector General investigations.

I was the Senior Legal Counsel to the Admiral in charge of the Navy’s air forces, including 200 subordinate commands and eleven aircraft carriers. I provided advice on legal issues concerning litigation, ethics, regulatory compliance, and investigations and supervised staff of seven personnel. During my time in this position, I served as legal advisor for numerous complex and high-profile investigations including a wide variety of aircraft mishap investigations.

I was the Deputy Legal Counsel for the Admiral in charge of the Navy’s surface forces. I provided advice on administrative, logistic and intelligence support for Naval Surface Forces and on criminal law, procurement/fiscal law, regulatory compliance, and investigations. I oversaw numerous complex and high-profile investigations and numerous criminal inquiries.

Managed a legal services organization with over 60 legal professionals spread across four regional offices. Supervised 15 litigators and oversaw the provision of criminal defense litigation services and legal assistance to Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard military members within a seven-state area. Developed strategic initiatives that serve as best practices for handling criminal litigation matters, including the provision of services to remote locations using computer technology, and professional development standards and training for attorneys and paralegals. Represented senior officers in administrative hearings; served as a supervisory counsel on all litigation and administrative cases. Managed JAG Corps recruiting program for a 17-state region, provided training on structured interview process to interviewers and served as senior interviewer on eight recruiting trips.

I served in this position twice and it is already described above.

I worked in the “Green Zone” in Baghdad. I was the primary legal advisor to the Iraqi Judges of the Investigative Courts for prosecution of members of the regime of Saddam Hussain for war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of the Iraqi Criminal Code. I was responsible for coordination of all aspects of investigative court hearings including the safe transportation of Iraqi defense lawyers, witnesses and defendants through the combat theater. I had to coordinate operations with all branches of the US military, Department of Justice, US Marshalls, our foreign coalition partners and a new Iraqi government comprised of diverse segments of their population. I was the primary attorney organizing the investigation and prosecution of atrocities committed by the regime against the Marsh Arab population.

I supervised 14 attorneys tasked with analyzing and providing advice regarding complex legal issues directly supporting the Judge Advocate General of the Navy’s role advising the Secretary of the Navy. Our office was responsible for providing advice on the full spectrum of administrative law including ethics, personnel law, investigations, Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, equal opportunity, and agency authorities. During my tour I moved quickly from the action officer level up to the Deputy Director. During my time in this position, I coordinated review of 1,020 personnel actions to Secretary-level decision, 185 proposed laws and regulations, and initiated detailed review of 89 policies affecting military rights and benefits.

I lead a legal department of 10 professionals that provided legal services in support of an operational aircraft carrier, air wing and the other ships of the assigned strike group. During my time on board, the carrier conducted combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom and humanitarian operations following the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of December 2005. I enjoyed being part of the daily operations of the ship and made time to serve additional duties as a Combat Direction Center Watch Officer, underway bridge watch officer and in-port Command Duty Officer. Working in foreign countries with local organizations and governments was one of the most challenging and enjoyable parts of the job.