Do Civilian Military Lawyers Travel to Your Base?

Do civilian military defense lawyers travel to your base? Yes, when the case requires it. But that does not mean your civilian lawyer should be flying back and forth to your installation for every meeting, Article 32 hearing, motions hearing, witness interview, or status conference. In modern military practice, much of that work is routinely handled remotely, and that is often the most efficient and cost-effective way to defend a case.

I’m Alexandra González-Waddington, a civilian military defense lawyer and co-founder of Gonzalez & Waddington.

One of the questions clients sometimes ask is, “If you’re not located near my base, how is this going to work?” The answer is that this is how experienced military defense lawyers have been practicing for years. Military justice is an extremely mobile practice. Military judges travel, prosecutors travel, special trial counsel travel. Detailed military defense counsel rotate between assignments and installations. Civilian military defense lawyers may be handling cases in several different states or countries at the same time. Because of that, remote practice has become a normal part of the military justice system. Microsoft Teams hearings are now very common. Article 32 preliminary hearings are often conducted remotely when the rules, military judge, preliminary hearing officer, and circumstances permit it. Many motions hearings and Article 39(a) sessions can also be conducted remotely. Military judges themselves frequently appear remotely. Prosecutors and defense counsel may appear remotely as well. In many cases, everyone involved understands that there is no reason to fly multiple attorneys across the country or around the world for a hearing that can be handled effectively by Teams.

That can save the client a significant amount of money. Airfare, hotels, rental cars, meals, and travel days add up quickly. If we can effectively appear remotely for an Article 32 hearing, motions hearing, status conference, or other pre-trial proceeding, we generally prefer to do that rather than create unnecessary travel expenses. We do not believe the number of airplane trips a lawyer takes is a measure of the quality of the representation. What matters is the work being done on the case. Discovery can usually be reviewed remotely. Legal research can be done remotely. Motions can be drafted remotely. Strategy meetings with you can be conducted by video. Meetings with your detailed military defense counsel can happen through Teams or telephone. Many witness interviews can be conducted remotely. Experts can be consulted remotely. Evidence can be reviewed remotely. Trial preparation can be conducted remotely. And when the court permits it, Article 32 hearings, motions hearings, and other preliminary proceedings can often be handled remotely as well. That is not unusual anymore. It is part of modern litigation.

Our philosophy is to avoid travel simply for the sake of being physically present. We would rather spend that time working on your case. When we are at our office, we have access to our staff, our files, our research tools, our technology, our evidence, and the rest of our team. That is often a much better use of the client’s resources than spending an entire day traveling to attend a relatively short pre-trial hearing.

Our goal is generally to limit unnecessary travel and focus our in-person time where it matters most. For a contested court-martial, that usually means traveling to the installation for the trial and arriving with enough time beforehand to complete the necessary final preparation. That may include meeting with the client face-to-face, working with military co-counsel, completing final witness preparation, conducting any last necessary interviews, reviewing the courtroom and logistics, and finishing the preparations that are best done on location. Then, we try the case. Depending on the case, the trial itself may last several days, a week, or longer. That is where we believe our physical presence provides the greatest value. The same general approach applies to an administrative separation board or board of inquiry. Much of the case can be prepared remotely, and then we travel when our physical presence is necessary for the actual hearing and the final preparation surrounding it. We do not want to promise clients that we are going to make multiple pre-trial trips to their installation when those trips may not be necessary. Every case is different. Sometimes there may be a particular witness, hearing, inspection, or circumstance that makes an additional trip worthwhile. But as a general practice, we try to minimize unnecessary travel and, when appropriate, handle Article 32 hearings, motions hearings, meetings, witness interviews, and other pre-trial work remotely. That approach keeps the focus where it belongs, preparing the strongest possible defense while controlling unnecessary expenses.

There is also a practical reality about military cases that people outside the system sometimes do not understand. The participants may already be spread around the country or around the world. The military judge may be sitting in another state. The special trial counsel may be assigned to a regional office. A witness may have PCSed to another installation. An expert may be thousands of miles away. Your detailed military defense counsel may be working from a different location. In that environment, requiring everybody to physically gather in one courtroom for every preliminary matter often makes little sense. Teams and other remote platforms have become an ordinary part of military litigation.

What matters is not whether your civilian lawyer has physically visited your installation five times before trial. What matters is whether your lawyer knows your case. Is the lawyer reviewing the evidence? Is the lawyer talking to you regularly? Is the lawyer coordinating with your military defense counsel? Is the lawyer identifying weaknesses in the government’s case? Is the lawyer preparing motions and legal arguments? Is the lawyer preparing cross-examinations? Is the lawyer interviewing the witnesses who matter? Is the lawyer working with experts when necessary? Is the lawyer preparing you for trial? And when the case finally goes into the courtroom, is that lawyer prepared to try it? Those are the questions that matter. We’ve handled cases throughout the United States and overseas, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific. Remote preparation does not mean distant representation. It means using technology intelligently so that our time, attention, and resources are spent on the defense rather than unnecessary travel. And when the case reaches the point where we need to be standing beside you in the courtroom, we travel to you.

If you’re considering hiring a civilian military defense lawyer, ask some practical questions. Who will actually try my case? Will you personally be there for the trial? How do you normally handle Article 32 hearings and motions hearings? Do you appear remotely when the court permits it? How are travel expenses handled? Will I be paying for unnecessary pre-trial trips? When do you normally arrive before a contested trial? Those questions will tell you much more than simply asking whether the lawyer has an office near your installation. In military defense, geography is not the same thing as experience. A lawyer does not become more qualified to defend a court-martial simply because the office is 20 minutes from the gate. And a lawyer who regularly handles military cases worldwide does not become less effective because much of the pre-trial preparation happens by Teams, phone, and email. That is simply how a great deal of modern military litigation works.

At Gonzalez & Waddington, our goal is to use our time and your resources intelligently. We try to avoid unnecessary travel. We routinely use remote meetings, remote preparation, and remote hearings when appropriate and permitted. We would rather spend our time preparing your defense than sitting on an airplane. And when it is time for trial, we come to you prepared to try the case.

So, do civilian military lawyers travel to your base? Yes, when the case requires it. But that does not mean your lawyer should be flying to your installation for every pre-trial event. In many cases, Article 32 hearings, motions hearings, conferences, interviews, and much of the preparation can be handled remotely. That is increasingly common throughout the military justice system and can save clients substantial travel expenses. The better question is not how many times your lawyer gets on an airplane. The better question is whether your lawyer is prepared when it counts. I’m Alexandra González-Waddington with Gonzalez & Waddington. We represent service members facing courts-martial, military investigations, administrative actions, and other serious military cases throughout the United States and around the world. You can learn more at ucmjdefense.com or call 1-800-921-8607 for a confidential consultation.