How Many Prior Courts-Martial Had Army Trial Counsel Tried? 2025
In 96 of the 418 Army courts-martial from 2025 that list a trial counsel of record (23%), the government team included a lawyer with 20 or more prior cases. The median most experienced trial counsel had 10.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read
Trends › Counsel Experience › Army 2025
Short answer: In 96 of the 418 Army courts-martial from 2025 that list a trial counsel of record (23%), the government team included a lawyer with 20 or more prior cases. The median most experienced trial counsel had 10. Full acquittals came in 39 of 87 decided contested cases (45%), compared with 37% in 2024.
Experience Was Spread Across All Bands
The 418 cases with a trial counsel listed, out of 446 tried in 2025, are spread across the experience bands in similar numbers. The 10 to 19 band held 122 cases (29%). The 20 or more band held 96 (23%), the 1 to 4 band 95 (23%), and the 5 to 9 band 94 (22%).
Only 11 cases (3%) had no trial counsel of record with an earlier case in this data. The median prior-case count of the most experienced trial counsel was 10.
| Prior cases (most experienced trial counsel) | Cases | Share |
|---|---|---|
| No prior cases | 11 | 3% |
| 1 to 4 | 95 | 23% |
| 5 to 9 | 94 | 22% |
| 10 to 19 | 122 | 29% |
| 20 or more | 96 | 23% |
Definition of Experience
The count used here is the number of earlier Army courts-martial in this data where a lawyer was counsel of record, for either side, before the trial date. It is a count of cases, not a measure of how well a lawyer performed. Cases from before the records start do not count.
The records list the government team without naming who led it. Each case is placed by its most experienced trial counsel of record. This page does not rate or rank any lawyer.
What Happened in Contested Cases
A contested case has a not-guilty or mixed plea. 82 contested cases reached a verdict in 2025 and list a trial counsel. A full acquittal is not guilty of every charge. A partial acquittal is not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.
In the 10 to 19 band (28 cases), 50% ended in a full acquittal and 43% in a partial acquittal. The 1 to 4 band (16 cases) also had 50% full acquittals, with 44% partial. The 20 or more band (20 cases) had 40% full acquittals and the lowest partial rate, 25%. In the 5 to 9 band (16 cases), full acquittals were 38% and partial acquittals 50%.
Only 2 cases had no experienced trial counsel, and 1 of 2 ended in a full acquittal. Groups of 16 to 28 cases can change with a few verdicts. The records do not show the evidence, the plea offers, or the work each lawyer did, so the table describes outcomes and not the effect of experience.
| Prior cases (most experienced trial counsel) | Contested cases | Full acquittal | Partial acquittal |
|---|---|---|---|
| No prior cases | 2 | 1 of 2 | 1 of 2 |
| 1 to 4 | 16 | 50% | 44% |
| 5 to 9 | 16 | 38% | 50% |
| 10 to 19 | 28 | 50% | 43% |
| 20 or more | 20 | 40% | 25% |
Year-to-Year Changes
The 2025 full-acquittal rate of 45% (39 of 87) was higher than the 37% in 2024. The median confinement was 8 months, compared with 6 months in 2024. Confinement figures are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. The military judge now sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records do not give offense dates, so 2025 trials can fall under either set of rules, and the records cannot show whether the rules moved these numbers.
Larger Government Teams
305 of the 418 cases listed 2 trial counsel of record. 60 listed 3 or more, and 53 listed 1.
The band for a case follows its most experienced lawyer, so a large team does not by itself put a case in a higher band.
290 Trial Counsel in 2025
290 different trial counsel of record appear in Army cases tried in 2025. 118 of them (41%) had no earlier case in this data.
132 appeared in 2 to 4 cases during the year, and 104 in only 1. 45 appeared in 5 to 9 cases, and 9 in 10 or more.
| Cases as trial counsel in 2025 | Lawyers |
|---|---|
| 1 case | 104 |
| 2 to 4 cases | 132 |
| 5 to 9 cases | 45 |
| 10 or more cases | 9 |
Prosecution Compared With Defense
417 cases list lawyers on both sides. In 217 (52%), the most experienced trial counsel had more prior cases than the most experienced defense counsel. In 182 (44%), the defense counsel had more. The rest were tied.
Coverage
Army counsel names are nearly complete from 2021. These pages start two years later so most lawyers already have cases in the data. Names spelled several ways are merged as on Learn Your Lawyer. Navy and Marine Corps records list counsel only from mid-2025, mostly by surname, and are not covered.
Only cases that reached a courtroom appear. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, and cases with no action are not in the records, which also do not describe the evidence or plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every Army court-martial with a trial date in 2025 (446 cases). Counsel of record are as listed in the public records.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Counsel Experience (hub)
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- 2023: Experience of Army Trial Counsel of Record
- 2024: Experience of Army Trial Counsel of Record
- How Many Prior Courts-Martial Had Army Defense Counsel Tried? 2023
- How Many Prior Courts-Martial Had Army Defense Counsel Tried? 2024
- How Many Prior Courts-Martial Had Army Defense Counsel Tried? 2025
- 2018: Experience of Air Force Defense Counsel of Record
- 2020: Experience of Air Force Trial Counsel of Record
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.