"Military Justice is to justice what Military Music is to music.” The military justice system is often an enigma to many attorneys and, as evidenced by Groucho Marx’ quotation, subject to certain misconceptions and suspicions. However, with our Nation’s continuing military conflicts many of your clients or their family members will have served in or have ties with the military and will have some encounter with the military justice system. Therefore, a basic understanding of military justice would be valuable.

This course is intended to offer a “boot-camp” introduction to military justice, dispel some of the fictions, demystify the process and provide the practitioner with a fundamental understanding of how the military justice system operates. It will explore how charges are brought before a court-martial, the alternatives to courts-martial, the powers and responsibilities of the commanding officer, the unique features of the military justice system, the military appeals process and the rights of a servicemember when accused of a crime.