'Defending Those Who Defend America':1 Avoiding Conflicts of Interest in Order to Provide an Ethical and Effective Defense

Summary

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7 However, the establishment of TDS did not eliminate the problem of conflicts of interest in the defense of military defendants. Because of the small military community most defense lawyers work in,8 the limited number of lawyers assigned to defense,9 and the TDS mission to "provide a full-range of defense legal services to Soldiers serving in numerous commands worldwide,"10 avoiding conflicts of interest is one of the most difficult ethical issues TDS lawyers face on a daily basis.

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'Defending Those Who Defend America':1 Avoiding Conflicts of Interest in Order to Provide an Ethical and Effective Defense

Introduction

The U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG Corps) is this country's oldest, and one of the largest, law firms.3 Despite its rich history, the military justice system was very slow in evolving the defense function of the JAG Corps into an independent entity. Although criticism about the lack of a separate defense service dates back to the end of World War II,4 the U.S. Army Trial Defense Services (TDS) was not established until 1980.5 The Department of the Army (DA) created TDS in order to avoid the inherent conflict of interest, or at least the appearance of conflict, involved with having defense lawyers evaluated and influenced by lawyers and commanders who were prosecuting the Soldiers they were defending.6 This new organization, made up solely of military defense counsel, was intended "to improve the efficiency and professionalism of counsel through direct supervision and evaluation within the defense chain."7

However, the establishment of TDS did not ...

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