Attorney Profiles

The Team

Partners: Philip D. Cave and Nathan P. Freeburg (read on)

Of Counsel: Prof. Brenner M. Fissell, Wojciech Kornacki, and Prof. Franklin D. Rosenblatt

Philip D. Cave, CDR, JAGC, USN (Ret.)

I and Professor Rosenblatt were privileged February 2022 to present oral argument at the International Criminal Court at the Hague in Prosecutor v. Ongwen.

I am self-employed as a practitioner partnering with Nathan Freeburg. Our practice is limited to military law and security clearance law issues. We travel the world to any location where there is a military base or U.S. military personnel assigned for my trial cases and administrative hearings. Our practice is about two-thirds litigating courts-martial (criminal trials), usually to a members panel (jury), courts-martial appeals, and adverse administrative actions.

I am admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, all military trial and appellate courts, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Ohio, the Eastern District of Virginia, and the federal Court of Claims.Formal Education

• 1988, graduated George Washington Univ. Law School, Master of Laws (LL.M.)
• 1979, graduated Case Western Reserve Univ. Law School, Juris Doctor (JD)
• 1976, graduated Wright State Univ., B.A.
• 1982, graduated Armed Forces Staff College, National Defense Univ., diploma
• 1968, graduated Metropolitan Police Training School, London, U.K.
• 1967, graduated Metropolitan Police Cadet Corps, London, U.K.

Associations

• Chair, Board of Dir., National Institute of Military Justice (current).
• Director The National Institute of Military Justice (2000-2024). NIMJ is a District of Columbia nonprofit corporation organized in 1991 to advance the fair administration of military justice and foster improved public understanding of the military justice system. NIMJ is not a government agency. NIMJ’s boards of directors and advisers include law professors, private practitioners, and other experts.
• Former Director and life member, the Judge Advocates Association.
• Military Law Committee, Virginia State Bar
• Executive Editor, CAAFlog; the only non-government resource for military law practitioners in the United States.
• Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, International
• American Legion, Post #24.

Active Duty United States Navy

• I was commissioned in 1978 into the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Student Program as an ensign. After graduation and admission to the Ohio Bar, I attended the Naval Justice School, January 1980 Class.
• I have served two tours of duty at the Naval Legal Service Office, Norfolk, VA. NLSO, Norfolk, was and is the largest military legal office in the world. I have been a Trial Defense Counsel, Naval Legal Service Office, Norfolk, VA, March 1980 to March 1982. During this period I supervised three other attorneys as a Team Leader. In July 1990, I was Chief Trial Defense Counsel until September 1991; mentoring and supervising 22 trial defense counsel. Designated by the judge advocate general of the Navy as one of six specialists in the prosecution and defense of national security cases.
• Trial Counsel (prosecutor), Naval Legal Service Office, Norfolk, VA, March 1982 to September 1982. Assistant Chief Trial Counsel, July 1988 to June 1990; mentoring and supervising 15 trial counsel.
• Assistant Staff Judge Advocate (legal adviser), Commander, U.S. Forces, Azores, Portugal. This “purple” assignment involved responsibilities in international law, Portuguese labor law, and military justice.
• The Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) (senior legal adviser) to USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67) and eight embarked aircraft squadron commanders from April 1985 to August 1987.
• Deployed as the Staff Judge Advocate to Commander, Naval Logistics Support Force, in support of operations DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM (Gulf I).
• Deputy Director, Navy-Marine Corps Appellate Defense Division, September 1992 to September 1994; supervising and mentoring over 40 active and reserve appellate counsel, as well as carrying a personal caseload.
• Officer-in-Charge, Naval Legal Service Office Detachment, Rota, Spain. While at Rota, went to Mali, as a member of a DILLS team, to teach Rule of Law issues to senior Malian military officers and Defense officials.
• Deputy Director, Criminal Law Division, HQ, Judge Advocate General of the Navy. The Division is primarily responsible for military justice policy. While assigned, served a period of time as the Navy representative to the Department of Defense Joint Service Committee on Military Justice, and served as a voting member of the Naval Clemency and Parole Board.

Misc. Information

• 1998. Presentation, Continuity and Change in Military Justice. NIMJ London Conference (for international military lawyers).
• 2001. Testimony before the Cox Commission on Military Justice (Cox-I).
• 2008, Coram Nobis: A Writ Too Far? ABA, Preview of Supreme Court Cases, Paper Chase, ABA.
• 2009. Testimony before e Cox Commission on Military Justice (Cox-II).
• 2010. Presentation, Mental Health Defenses, The Judge Advocate General’s School of the Army.
• 2013. Testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights—DoD response to military sexual assaults.
• 2014. Presentation, Sexual Assault in the Military: Fixing a Broken System: Rape and Sexual Assault in the Military, Hastings University Law School.
• 2014. Military Law and Media, Military Editors Reporters Conference.
• 2019. Presentation, Summary Courts-Martial. Seminar in Military Justice, Yale Law School.
• 2021, Presentation, Court-Martial of Retired Military Personnel. Military Law Committee, Texas Bar Association.
• 2021, Presentation, Recommended Changes to the Presidential Executive Order Establishing the Manual for Courts-Martial. DoD Joint Service Committee on Military Justice.
• 2021, presentation, Ethics of Go-Funding and Similar Financing of Court-Martial Defense Counsel. Town Hall, GMJR, to international military lawyers, judges, and advocates.
• 2021. Presentation, Retiree Courts-Martial. NIMJ Symposium jointly with the Georgetown Center on National Security & Law.
• 2021. Presentation, Military Law for the Not Dumb. Phi Alpha Delta, International (law fraternity).
• February 16, 2022. Presented oral argument in Prosecutor v. Ongwen and the International Criminal Court, The Hague.
• (Pending) 2022, presentation, Prosecution of military retirees for pre- and post-retirement offenses.  Military Law Committee, Virginia State Bar.
• Contributor to, Military Court Rules of the United States: Procedures, Citation, Professional Responsibility, Civility, and Judicial Conduct, 18 – 20^th eds., Fidell, Fissell, & Sullivan, eds.
• 2012, How Public of a Trial: US v. Bradley Manning, JURIST Sidebar, ABA.
• 2012, Mental State May Play Pivotal Role in Afghan Shooting Trial, JURIST, ABA.
• 2012, Wrangling Over Khadr’s Counsel Shows Discretionary Power of Military Judges, JURIST, ABA.
• 2021, Fidell, Fissell, and Cave, Equal Supreme Court Access for Military Personnel: An Overdue Reform. 131 YALE LAW REVIEW FORUM.
• 2021, Retired Servicemembers and Military Justice: Separating Fact from Myth. Naval Institute Proceedings, U.S. Naval Institute.
• 2021, Congress, not the courts, say who has authority to court-martial servicemembers, The Hill.
• 2021, Cave and Fissell, Can Service Members Fight Taking a Mandatory COVID Vaccine, Military.com.
• 2021, Cave and VanLandingham) How the Military Should Deal with Its Capitol Rioters. The Daily Beast, January 2021.
• 2021, Fidell, Cave, Hillman, Vanlandingham, Military justice reform, “pink courts’ and unit cohesion. The Hill.

Call us in as your military defense counsel — 703-298-9562, mljucmj@court-martial.com