United States Army Trial Defense Service

The United States Army Trial Defense Service (USATDS or TDS) is an independent Field Operating Agency within the US Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, and is part of the US Army Legal Services Agency (USALSA). The TDS motto is "Defending Those Who Defend America."

A Judge Advocate Colonel heads the Trial Defense Service Office of the Chief, located in Fort Belvoir. TDS consists of the Chief, TDS, the Executive Officer, the Chief of Defense Counsel Assistance Program, several training attorneys, a Senior Legal Administrator Warrant Officer, a Senior Enlisted Paralegal, three administrative staff, and nearly 240 TDS personnel worldwide. Under the Chief of TDS, there are nine Regional Defense Counsel (RDC) responsible for overseeing defense services within a geographic region (see below). Each RDC oversees several Senior Defense Counsel (SDC), who manage field offices with the responsibility of providing defense services for a specific post, command, or area. Some field offices oversee geographically separate branch offices.

AR 27-10 attaches all TDS attorneys to the Trial Defense Service with duty at a particular installation and requires the commander of the installation or organization and the respective SJA or supporting legal office to provide administrative and logistical support to defense counsel assigned to the installation, regardless of the lack of a command relationship.

The bulk of TDS is made up of US Army Reserve attorneys and paralegals. The reserve component of the Trial Defense Service consists of the 16th Legal Operations Detachment, the 22nd Legal Operations Detachment and the 154th Legal Operations Detachment. The 16th LOD is responsible for reserve TDS services east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason Dixon line, and in Germany; the 22nd LOD is responsible for reserve TDS services west of the Mississippi River, Alaska, Hawaii and South Korea; and the 154th LOD is responsible for TDS service east of the Mississippi and south of the Mason Dixon line, and in Puerto Rico. The LODs are divided into distinct regions that are spread throughout their areas of responsibility.

The Trial Defense Service provides conflict-free legal services to soldiers who are facing adverse criminal or administrative actions at no cost to the soldier. Unlike public defenders in civilian jurisdictions, there is no means test required to determine eligibility; all soldiers are entitled to TDS representation by virtue of being subject to the UCMJ. The various categories of representation fall into three priorities.

In the Army military justice system, the main decision maker is the general court-martial convening authority (GCMCA), usually a division, post, or area commander. Each GCMCA has a Staff Judge Advocate, who serves as the legal advisor to the general. The Staff Judge Advocate also supervises a number of subordinate attorneys assigned to his or her particular unit. Collectively, the attorneys assigned to a particular command are called the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate.

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