Separation Board Lawyer

The Final Fight to Save Your Career

This is the moment of truth — a few senior military members will decide whether your career continues or ends. You’ve worked too hard to lose it all. You need experienced professionals by your side.

Discharge / separation boards have tremendous power. They can end a military member’s lengthy career with a single vote. It is imperative that, when you are facing a board, you have the best military attorneys standing at your side. This will likely be the last chance you get to convince an impartial group of military members that you should be allowed to continue to serve. Be sure that you have a dedicated, experienced, and professional team fighting for you.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. If you are facing discharge, and you have served in the military for a long time, you have so much to lose. Not only is your career on the, a military separation can also terminate your retirement pay and the benefits you may receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Now is the time to fight for yourself, and we are the team to help you.

Our Process

1. Robust Investigation

We start any discharge or separation board with a complete investigation of the allegations against you. We interview witnesses, review evidence, and develop matters to present in your defense.

2. Prepare Board Package

We have the experience of hundreds of military boards. We know how to prepare a defense package, complete with character letters, evidence in defense, and other mitigating materials, to give you the best chance of success.

3. World Class Advocacy

We attend the board with you. We cross-examine witnesses and present persuasive arguments for why you should be retained. We bring world-class advocacy skills to your separation board, fighting for you and your career.

4. Appeal / Upgrade Application

If the board goes against you, we can help you with a written appeal or an application to the service board for a change or upgrade to your discharge.

Separation Board Procedures

A military separation board is generally made up of three senior military officers or non-commissioned officers, each of whom is appointed to decide your case. There is a prosecutor, often known as a “Government Counsel,” who presents witnesses and evidence in order to try and get you discharged. You may also have a defense team, including a civilian attorney, to present witnesses and evidences on your behalf.

The board reviews your entire military record, to include all evidence presented by the government and defense. They then vote on whether you should be involuntarily separated or retained. Their decision must be made by a “majority vote,” and the board’s “findings and recommendations” are forwarded to a separation authority for final action.

Entitlement to a Board

Military members facing involuntary administrative separation are entitled to a separation or discharge board when they have more than six years of service or face the possibility of receiving an Other than Honorable military service characterization.

Burden of Proof

At a separation board, it is only necessary that the government prove its case against you by a “preponderance of the evidence.” That’s a legal phrase meaning “more likely than not.” So, the evidence against you must prove that it is “more likely than not” that you committed the allegations and should be discharge.

Given this burden of proof, it’s imperative that you have an experienced team of military justice professionals representing you at a separation board.

Consequences of a Board

A separation board makes “findings and recommendations” in your case. If the board recommends you be involuntarily separated, it is very likely that the separation authority will agree and terminate your career. This will cause you to lose all years of service, all retirement pay, and many potential VA benefits. The stakes are extremely high.