Steve Burke ’24 visits Camp Justice in Guantanamo.
Opening doors to careers in military justice
Veterans of America’s armed services, and civilians interested in careers in military justice, are finding a groundswell of support at UB Law.
In its second year, the Military Law and Veterans Association is sponsoring new programming that gives law students a close-up look at how the justice system works in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Those events include a first-ever visit this month by the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals that will meet in the law school’s Francis M. Letro Courtroom.
“We’re trying to bring military programming to the school so students can see what military justice looks like and what being a military Judge Advocate might look like, and what better way to do that than to bring a real case here?” says Prof. David Coombs, a law school lecturer and fellow of the National Institute of Military Justice. “Students will see an actual appellate argument, and afterward, the court will do a Q&A session—students can talk to the judges and ask questions of them and the litigants.”
The case, U.S. v. Thompson, concerns an Army specialist originally convicted at court martial of two counts of premeditated murder and sentenced to confinement for life with eligibility for parole. A 2021 appeal resulted in the findings and sentence being set aside and a rehearing being ordered. In 2023, Thompson was found guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to eight years of confinement. . The current appeal, to be heard before a three-judge panel on Sept. 26, will determine whether that new conviction should stand or also be reversed.
Coombs, who serves as faculty adviser to the Military Law and Veterans Association (MLVA), points out that the Judge Advocates arguing the appeal include a captain, someone not long out of law school. “It will show that within the first few years of being in the service, you could be handling very important trial cases and even handling an appellate argument,” he says.
Also planned this month is a visit by Army Lt. Col. John Soron ’10, who serves as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate (Deputy General Counsel) for the First Army’s Rock Island Arsenal, in Illinois. Soron, who manages an office of six attorneys and three paralegals providing support to the First Army Headquarters, will talk about his career path and career opportunities in the military justice system.
The MLVA, which has more than forty members, also plans a day of service at Buffalo’s Naval and Military Park this fall.
The connections afforded by the group recently led to an eye-opening visit to the Navy’s Guantanamo Bay detention camp for one former member.
Steve Burke ’24 traveled in late July to Guantanamo under the sponsorship of the National Institute of Military Justice to observe proceedings in the ongoing 9/11 Military Commissions case.
At Camp Justice—the naval base’s court complex, constructed over a disused runway—Burke and other observers witnessed a brief portion of the case against four men accused of plotting the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Currently at issue in the case, which has been ongoing since 2012, is the admissibility of evidence obtained in 2007 and 2008 by “clean teams”—federal agents who tried to elicit uncoerced statements about the attacks from the detainees after years of detention by the CIA.
Because the testimony on the day of his visit veered quickly into classified information, Burke says they were able to observe only a small segment of the proceedings. But he was interested in the difference between the constitutional standards that apply in civilian trials and the lesser standards used in the work of the military commission. An aspiring military lawyer himself—he plans to join the Army's JAG Corps in early 2025—he benefited from watching and meeting the JAG officers arguing the case. “The defense lawyers,” Burke says, “were really, really excellent—the best of the best."
“I met a Judge Advocate who was in my shoes seven years ago,” he says, “and so many other people from other services as well. We talked about the case, but also their career and how it got to this point. It was really helpful, and it confirmed that I do want to continue on this path.”
As faculty advisor to the MLVA, Coombs played a key role in facilitating Steve Burke’s inclusion on the trip to Guantanamo, providing him with a unique opportunity to observe the military commissions firsthand. Coombs wants the MLVA at UB Law to continue to foster these opportunities for our law students. “As the association grows, so does its mission to connect students with careers that serve both veterans and active-duty military personnel, ensuring that UB Law becomes a leader in preparing future advocates for this critical area of law,” he says.
Disclaimer: Any views expressed by Steve Burke are his own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense or the U.S. government.