Myth: You should look for an attorney who is close to your military installation or your home town.

Truth: When it comes to military law, geography is far less important than skill and experience. Your lawyer has to have a thorough knowledge of military law and the military mindset. He should have had a lot of experience prosecuting and defending cases in the military. Qualified military attorneys will be admitted to practice at all US military courts and installations and will have a lot of experience representing people all over the country and overseas. Until a military case gets into the courtroom, almost all the work is done by phone, fax, and email, so your attorney will only need to be present if your case goes to court, and the attorney can fly in for that. In fact, when we were defense attorneys in the military, many of our clients were at other bases and we had absolutely no trouble giving them excellent representation. If your case goes to court, your attorney needs to know how to win a tough case by fighting it in the courtroom, and he can’t be afraid to do a case in front of a jury. If your attorney is right across the street from you but doesn’t have these other attributes, it doesn’t do you much good. Geography should not be a main concern.