Blog

I had the pleasure of representing a fine young Marine before the Naval Discharge Review Board today. We got some good intel on the current board members. We were brought in for the personal appearance only. For many service members with adverse discharges, they simply are not economically able to afford civilian counsel. Over the last...

I first came to the firm in 2005. I was prior enlisted in the Marine Corps – having made it to the rank of Staff Sergeant. By the summer of 2006, a number of Marines from 3/1 were under investigation related to 24 deaths in the city of Haditha, Iraq.Mr. Myers had started his Army...

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces overturned a conviction in a case that a friend of the firm – and talented trial attorney – litigated at trial. The case was US v. Hoffman. You can read the opinion here. It is refreshing to see CAAF reverse a conviction because of an illegal search and...

The annual rite of proposing ways to change military sexual assault law was released recently in the form of the Judicial Proceedings Panel on Article 120. Judicial Proceedings Panel Report To be perfectly clear, this is an issue that does not concern me as much as it has in the past. Congress keeps changing the law and...

In the last week, we’ve received multiple phone calls from service members with questions about the legality of a urinalysis. This post will shed some light on those kinds of questions. First of all, in the military, a urinalysis is constitutional if it is based upon probable cause. Military Rule of Evidence 312 (d) and 315. Rarely...

Most people going through the discharge review have a lot of questions. The Air Force Discharge Review Board process can be difficult. The process is slow. Personnel on the board can be difficult to contact. Andrews AFB can be challenging with their base security. The whole process can have uncertainty when you’re not represented by...

Titling. What is it? We receive phone calls with regularity from Soldiers who have been titled as the subjects in investigations.​This blog entry will shed some light on what it means to be titled. The short definition is that titling is the decision to place the name of a person in the subject block of...

We recently had a successful result when a judge dismissed Article 133 – Conduct Unbecoming charges in an officer general court-martial. As a matter of philosophy, Mr. Conway is aggressive in Article 133 cases about challenging the allegations based on failure to state an offense and the concept of void for vagueness. The officer had been accused...

With downsizing over the last few years, rich retirement benefits, and increasing competitiveness, sometimes it makes economic sense to retain counsel to assist in a fitness report appeal. This blog entry is looking specifically at Navy adverse fitness reports. The applicable regulation is BUPERSINST 1610.10C The first step is to exercise your rights under the regulation to submit...

Mr. Conway finished two Army Discharge Review Board hearings today. I’ve always written that success before the ADRB can be highly personality driven. The composition of the various boards (Army, Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard) change regularly. We rarely have two boards with exactly the same composition – though we see...