FORCES FOR JUSTICE
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 12)
responsibility in their first years,
the military puts its lawyers in the
courtroom almost as soon as they
join the Corps.
“I had litigation opportunities
from day one. The amount of
responsibility I was given right off the
bat was far more than I would have
had at a law firm, and it was in an
environment with real camaraderie
and mentorship,” says Pottinger.
“I don’t think there’s any place
where you get a more well-rounded
experience and great responsibility
at a young age,” says Kantwill. “We
give judge advocates the training and
support they need, but they handle
their own clients, issues, and cases
with notable independence.”
Besides taking on substantial
responsibility early in their
careers, judge advocates acquire
a significantly broad range of
experience. They tend to receive new
orders every couple of years, often
changing locales, frequently shifting
duties, and sometimes taking on
multifaceted leadership roles within
their installations. Within the span of a
few years, a judge advocate may serve
as both defense and prosecution
counsel for servicemembers who
have been court-martialed; as a
legal assistance attorney, helping
service personnel with problems
ranging from divorces to estate
planning to billing disputes; and as
an administrative law attorney, the
equivalent of in-house counsel.
Serving as both defense and
prosecution“has been an interesting
evolution,”says Cherry, who has done
both just three years into her career.
“From the defense side, your mindset
is you and your client against the
prosecution, the government. It’s not
until you go to the prosecution that
you get the perspective of what the
case means to the unit and command.
Especially here in the Middle East, that
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9)
“Becoming
a judge
advocate
opened my
eyes to how
well I’d been
trained at
Loyola.”
Colonel Paul
Kantwill
(BA ’83, JD ’86)
US Army, Director, Office of
Legal Policy, Office of the
Under Secretary of Defense for
Personnel and Readiness
Washington, DC
DOD subject
matter expert
Colonel Paul Kantwill (left, with Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden) frequently testifies before Congress
on ways to protect servicemembers in the financial marketplace.
FALL 2013
11
10
LOYOLA LAW
