The canons, the code and counsel: the ethics of advocates before courts-martial

Abstract

The tempo of our times proclaims that the end justifies the means. Fortunately, however, the Military Officer Lawyer marches to the sound of a different drum. The American Bar Association Canons of Ethics and the American College of Trial Lawyer's Code of Trial Conduct, as ordered by the services and the Court of Military Appeals serves as guideposts to ethical conduct. The present expansion of the United States Marine Corps and the other branches of the Armed Forces has brought many dedicated, highly motivated younger attorneys to practice as counsel before courts-martial. Despite the many fine articles that have treated with individual facts of the ethics of advocates before courts-martial, there is not new available for the consideration of present and incoming military attorneys, an overall discussion of the several, seemingly conflicting, responsibilities claiming their loyalty. It is then the purpose of this thesis to consider the application of the Canons of Ethics and the Code of Trial Conduct to the military and to analyze and compare their provisions with those of the Manual for Courts-Martial. It is also the intent of this paper to provide a reference guide to the established precedents in the area including a treatment of disciplinary sanctions and to consider the reconciliation of the varied responsibilities claiming the military attorney's loyalty.