Military Fees

Court-Martial Fees and Procedures

At the beginning of any court-martial, we require an initial retainer to enter our formal appearance. This enables us to notify your command and the base legal office that all further communications must go through our firm. It also allows us to immediately begin the process of discovery—obtaining the reports and evidence the government intends to use against you.

The General Court-Martial and Preliminary Hearing

If you are facing a General Court-Martial, the next phase is the Article 32 Preliminary Hearing. We charge a flat fee of $5,000 for this stage. It is rare that we would recommend waiving this hearing; it is a vital opportunity to road-test the government’s case, identify evidentiary weaknesses, and obtain a neutral officer’s assessment for the Convening Authority.

The only additional expenses during this phase are travel-related: airfare, lodging, and a rental car. We are mindful of your resources and do everything possible to control these costs.

The Trial Fee

Once a case is referred, meaning the Convening Authority has officially ordered the case to trial, the trial fee becomes due. We structure our fees this way because in the event your case is not referred to trial, meaning we were successful at the preliminary hearing, we do not want you to have to pay for a trial that never took place.  The retainer and the preliminary hearing fee are both credited towards the trial fee.  

The final trial fee is based on the complexity of the charges and the anticipated length of the proceedings. Courts-martial are short, high-stakes, and incredibly intense; they require exhaustive preparation and a total commitment of resources while the trial is in session.

Administrative Discharge Boards

While Discharge Boards operate under different rules of evidence and are generally less formal than a trial, they still require a similar level of meticulous preparation. We require an upfront retainer to enter our appearance and secure the evidence, with the remaining balance due once the hearing is officially scheduled.

Book a Consultation - All discussions are protected by attorney client privilege

General Courts-Martial - $50,000

Special Courts-Martial - $25,000

Summary Courts-Martial - $20,000

Discharge Board - $15,000

Notification Discharge response - $5,000

Article 15 - $5,000

Article 138 complaint - $7,500

Paperwork response - $3,500

Please note that all fees are subject to adjustment based on the specific nature and severity of the charges. For example, a case involving allegations of murder requires a significantly more extensive trial preparation and duration than a standard proceeding. Similarly, if a Special Court-Martial involves an unusually high volume of charges and specifications, which I have seen exceed fifty in a single case, the complexity of the litigation increases accordingly.

We are committed to total transparency; however, we cannot control the scope or scale of the government’s charging decisions. We will provide a definitive fee assessment once we have had the opportunity to review the formal charges against you.