What’s It Like?

SVC The Third Lawyer

By Captain John F. Kirk

Article published on: August 1, 2025 in the Army Lawyer issue 2 2025 Edition

Read Time: < 9 mins

Who’s This Guy?

The air in the courtroom is thin. After sitting in the same confined space for the past several days, spectators and litigants alike are achy and ready for the trial to end. The panel members, seated in all their regalia, maintain a stoic and serious expression, even though it appears their energy may be waning. The mood remains tense, both in front of and behind the bar. The accused, whom the panel has just found guilty of an Article 120 offense, is facing a potentially significant punishment for his crime. Though tired and sweaty, the Government and Defense are prepared and ready to plunge into the sentencing hearing that has just begun, hoping to obtain their desired outcome.

The military judge begins to read from The Benchbook.¹ She asks, “Is there a crime victim present who desires to be heard?”² and looks out to the gallery of spectators. An awkward pause occurs. Then, from one of the benches behind the Government’s side, a captain clad in their Army Service Uniform (ASU) stands up amid the crowd and says in a voice loud enough for the judge to hear, “Yes, Your Honor.” All heads turn, and for one brief moment, 90 percent of the people in the room, including the panel members, are all wondering the same thing: “Who’s this guy?”

Now is the time for me to introduce myself . . . I am the special victims’ counsel (SVC), or as I like to call it, the third lawyer.

As I walk from the gallery and enter the lion’s den where the Government and Defense have been fighting it out, a strange sensation falls over me. Throughout this trial, I have remained a silent observer; now, I am on my feet, and instead of feeling nervous or hesitant, I feel excited. I feel that I am a part of these proceedings. I’m wearing my spiffy ASUs, I’m reading from prepared remarks, and, most importantly, I am acting on behalf of a client with an enormous stake in this game, and that is all pretty amazing.

The SVC Program

With over a decade behind it, the SVC Program is not a new concept to anyone practicing military justice. Since 2012, legislation related to a judge advocate’s (JA) authority to provide client services “expanded [that] authority and directed the [armed] services to begin providing legal assistance services to sexual assault victims.”³

The U.S. Air Force was the first branch to create and launch a JA position dedicated to representing victims of sexual assault.⁴ In 2013, a trial judge denied one of the first Airmen SVC’s attempts to preserve his client’s rights to make legal arguments regarding certain evidentiary rules. That SVC sought a writ of mandamus, which ultimately led to the well-known Kastenberg case.⁵ In that case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, without issuing the writ, returned the case to the trial court to allow the SVC to present argument on Military Rules of Evidence 412 and 513 issues.⁶ At that point, the message was clear: the SVC is here to stay. Then, on 14 August 2013, the Secretary of Defense directed that all military branches establish their own SVC programs, each to be tailored to that branch’s specific mission, and to be operational by 1 January 2014.⁷ The SVC position was thus off and running.

Since that time, the program has seen several changes and tweaks. Most recently, Rule for Court-Martial 1001(c)(1) permits a crime victim to ask for a specific sentence in a non-capital case.⁸ A crime victim may also discuss the impact of an offense on other parties, such as family members.⁹ Additionally, the rule codifies the SVC’s ability to read an unsworn victim impact statement on behalf of the client, and it removes the requirement that both the Government and defense review the statement before it is read.¹⁰ “The purpose of [this] amendment is to streamline the process, allowing victims to express crime impacts and allowing defense counsel to object or rebut as necessary.”¹¹

Practice Points from the Field

Bottom line: the victim’s role, as facilitated by the SVC, is an indelible, black-and-white fixture of the military justice process as we know it. Nonetheless, the SVC role itself remains somewhat enigmatic. As has been stated by prior SVCs, “[l]eaders who understand what a typical SVC practice looks like will be in a better position to make personnel management decisions and identify when additional support is needed.”¹² This includes understanding the SVC’s workload, the training they can provide to fellow military justice practitioners, and the travel requirements that come with the job.¹³ This also includes the friction points that may arise between the SVC, whose sole duty is to represent the interests of the client, and other parties to the case.¹⁴

Another SVC has stressed the fundamental principle that the SVC serves the express interests of the client.¹⁵ An SVC is there to educate and inform, but the ultimate course of action rests solely with the client.¹⁶ It is not the SVC’s role to push a client down one particular path.¹⁷ “Success as an SVC is not determined by how many clients go through the court-martial process or how many see their offenders convicted.”¹⁸ Rather, success is when a client—after receiving sage counsel from their attorney—makes a fully informed decision, whatever that decision may be.¹⁹

The Victim’s Attorney and the “Real” World

While anyone who has practiced in the JAG Corps within the last ten years will know what an SVC is, they may be less familiar with the role’s impact. This unfamiliarity may be partly due to the role’s unique place in the military justice system and its absence in civilian justice systems. Despite not having an explicit “real-world” parallel, the SVC role does have real-world equivalence and applicability.

First, there is such a thing as a civilian SVC—an attorney, with no connection to the military, whom the victim retains in a military prosecution to serve as either the sole or co-SVC in a court-martial. While it is, literally, the civilian version of the SVC role, it is quite a niche practice, and it is not one with which many people, even seasoned military justice practitioners, are familiar. But, akin to a civilian defense counsel appearing in a court-martial on behalf of the accused, a civilian SVC can do the same on behalf of the victim.

Outside this narrow field, a much more common SVC-like role exists in the civilian justice system. One day, I was watching a news story about the 2022 quadruple homicide in Idaho, in which Bryan Kohberger killed four University of Idaho students in their shared house off-campus. I became an SVC around the same time the murders took place, and that story was constantly in the news cycle for much of 2023. It is a tragic and fascinating story for anyone interested in true crime or criminal justice. However, what caught my attention that day was that the person being interviewed was not a police officer, prosecutor, or defense attorney. Rather, it was an attorney representing one of the victim’s families.

How interesting, I thought as I listened to the attorney speak about the family’s position on how the case against Kohberger was proceeding. As the attorney spoke on behalf of his clients, another thought popped into my head: he does what I do! He speaks on behalf of the victims. And, as far as I could tell, he has no military affiliation at all.²⁰

As the Kohberger example demonstrates, having a victim’s attorney as a part of the criminal justice process has “real-world” applicability outside of the military. One of the most well-known, if not the most well-known, examples of successful practice in this field is Gloria Allred’s career. Ms. Allred has represented myriad victims and victims’ families in high-profile cases, including those involving O.J. Simpson and Harvey Weinstein. She was also involved in the famous Scott Peterson case. From 2002 to 2004, Peterson was investigated, accused, and ultimately convicted of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn child, Conner. While Laci was alive, Scott led a duplicitous life with Laci on the one hand, and his mistress, Amber Frey, on the other. Amber had no idea of Laci’s existence until Scott became a suspect in her disappearance, and as the media storm surrounding the case began to pick up steam, Amber sought legal representation for herself. Enter Ms. Allred, who sat through the trial, gave media interviews, and represented Amber’s interests through-out the process. In the documentary series American Murder: Laci Peterson, Ms. Allred speaks to the importance of victims’ rights in the criminal justice process.²¹

Talk about your third lawyer! The prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Peterson trial did their jobs and worked for their respective interests, but who was one of the main legal voices that captured much of the attention and focus? It was the victim’s (or, more accurately, the non-party’s) lawyer, that’s who!

SVC Skills Applied to Other Jobs

In addition to these parallel civilian roles, the SVC role can also serve JAs well when they are no longer in the role but still practicing military justice. I currently serve as a Trial Defense Service (TDS) attorney, and as such, I can attest that my time as an SVC has proven invaluable in my current position.

As a defense counsel, when I receive a new preferral containing an enumerated offense, my first question is, “Who’s the SVC?” Perhaps my time as an SVC has trained my brain to focus on the stance of the AV (“alleged victim” in defense parlance).²² Regardless of which counsel table I sit at, I have found this to be an incredible asset to my practice. Developing a holistic view of the facts and parties involved has enabled me to provide more comprehensive and zealous counsel to my client. This asset is one that every military justice practitioner should hope to attain.

Serving as an SVC, or the third lawyer, is a fantastic and fulfilling assignment. Beyond the immediate purpose and satisfaction of helping a traditionally underserved party in one of the darkest times of their life, the knowledge and skillset attained have far-reaching applicability beyond the position itself. It is a great position for any JA, and one that I highly recommend. For those who are, or are about to become, the third lawyer, enjoy the experience and rest assured, it will benefit you in the long run. TAL

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