Doing More at an Article 32(b) Preliminary Hearing – for Military Justice PART II After conducting independent investigation and after getting the statements transcribed and dissected, we did more. I encourage you to do the same after careful consideration and deliberation about whether it is the right move in your case(s). In this case, in … Read more
Doing More at an Article 32(b) Preliminary Hearing – for Military Justice PART I I know, here she comes again, right? Telling us all we need to be doing more? Yep. It’s me. And yes, my message has been consistent. But I am trying new strategies even though I am almost two decades into military … Read more
Board of Inquiry, elimination board, board for elimination, show cause board, administrative separation board… whatever you call it, they are the process through which the military is trying to fire one of its officers. The colloquial term “show cause board” comes from the verbiage that the officer is being made to “show cause” why he … Read more
More and more we get calls and questions about what harassment in the military is. The cynic in me is inclined to answer that harassment is just about anything that anyone claims it is. Seriously. At least that is the first blush at the answer. I cannot count how many investigations I have reviewed where … Read more
The experienced attorneys at The Law Office of Jocelyn Stewart are accustomed to defending senior servicemembers against allegations of all kinds. While we are known for our victories at trial, we also resolve many cases early by proactively dealing with allegations during the investigation process. In recent years, many of our senior military clients have … Read more
Maybe this will be shocking coming from a civilian practitioner who earns her living from military members opting to hire civilian counsel, but… not all cases require a civilian defense counsel. Yes. “I said what I said.” I was speaking recently with a senior officer who is facing elimination. He has served for 18 years … Read more
Stop whatever you’re doing right now. I don’t care if you don’t think you’ll ever be suspected, you just never know. Why take a chance. Remove facial recognition, open capabilities, remove fingerprint, eye scan, anything else.
Messy military lawyer talking about trying to hopefully dispel some of the misinformation that’s actually been put out by the D.O.D. and various sharp representatives. The number four on my part four of this series I want to talk to you about is this. Yes, that’s right. There are people who have put out in … Read more
Messy military lawyer doing part three of hopefully trying to put out some correct information and dispelling some of the myths that I know I have heard even at briefings from Department of the Defense officials, especially from some of the sharp instructors. So the number three myth that I want to talk about is … Read more
At the Law Office of Jocelyn Stewart, we routinely represent military leaders accused of misconduct ranging from sexual harassment claims to fraud and everything in between. In recent years, a new type of allegation has grown in frequency and seriousness for our more senior clients, with some new and confusing terms. The term “toxic leadership” … Read more
Messy military lawyer here talking about dispelling myths that I have even heard when I was in processing. And I’ve certainly heard and overheard when I’ve gone to sit in on these briefings as a military uniformed prosecutor because I was really worried about them putting out misinformation. There seemed to be a real big … Read more
Messy military lawyer here. Going to start another kind of group of videos where I’m hopefully going to be adding to some of the dialogue and hopefully trying to dispel some of the confusion. There’s been a lot of videos lately here on Mil Talk and TikTok about consent, about whether or not what somebody … Read more
Many people do not contemplate (at least not with any degree of seriousness) retiring in their 40s, but I would venture that many start to consider their own mortality at least as they start rounding the bases and head to 50. Maybe it is about this idea of leaving behind one’s legacy. Perhaps it is … Read more
DO.NOT.DELETE.YOUR.TEXT.MESSAGES.OR.PHOTOS and backup your data to the cloud. Too often someone will call and tell me that they are being accused of a terrible crime and that they had evidence that would prove the allegation is false, but they have deleted that evidence off their phones. Every time I hear this, my heart sinks for … Read more
It is not my job to develop uniformed counsel. Each of the services has an organization charged with training its counsel. I do not work for them, although I am sometimes invited to collaborate and to teach them. Years ago, I offered to uniformed counsel to come and work with me in drafting the cross-examination … Read more
A lot, that’s what. Like every other military command action, even when it seems like it is “final” it usually is not. Command approval must follow each process, and an administrative separation board is no exception. Before the board’s recommendation can be approved by the appointing authority, at least one commander must approve that recommendation … Read more