Practicing Military Law as a civilian, an ethics CLE presentation

This CLE is the second session of the MLTF’s Advocacy & Activism Through Military Law training program. Other trainings will be available in the near future, and you can find out more on the MLTF Training Program page, and/or join our low-volume mailing list.

Day/Time: Live via Zoom on July 13, 2022, at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern. A recorded version of the presentation will be available for viewing a few days after that.

Topic/Background: This presentation will examine the ethics rules that govern the practice of military law by civilian attorneys, including: (1) relevant provisions of the Manual for Court-Martial, (2) DOD and branch-specific regulations, (3) a discussion of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and (4) a discussion of some of the ethical and moral issues that are not addressed by the rules.

A good chunk of the presentation will involve some problem-solving of some hypothetical situations, based on common situations encountered by lawyers in this field.

While this program is a continuing legal education seminar for attorneys, others with interest in the subject (including GI Rights counselors and servicemember advocates) are welcome to attend.

Presenter: James M. Branum has practiced military criminal defense and free speech law since 2006. He has represented military service members at posts across the United States including many of the public resisters of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He is the author of the book US Army: A Practice Guide and Formbook and is a past chair of the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild. He also works as the editor of Humanistic Judaism magazine.

CLE Credit:

• California: This CLE is co-sponsored by the SF Bay area chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and is approved for one hour of CLE credit.
• Oklahoma: This CLE is co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Objector Community and accreditation is pending for one hour of CLE credit.
• Other jurisdictions: Attorneys in other states will be given a “uniform application for accreditation of CLE credit” which can be submitted to one’s state bar. We cannot guarantee that a state bar will approve the CLE credit but most states will likely do so. Your state may also require you to pay a nominal fee for submitting this form, which would be your responsibility.

FORMAT: This program will be a live Zoom presentation, but will be available in recorded video/audio form about a day after the live presentation and will be available online as an on-demand/non-participatory CLE seminar for one year.