{"id":5013,"date":"2025-10-15T19:29:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T19:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/?p=5013"},"modified":"2025-10-15T19:29:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T19:29:16","slug":"when-lawyers-are-veterans-devotion-to-serving-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/when-lawyers-are-veterans-devotion-to-serving-others\/","title":{"rendered":"When Lawyers are Veterans: Devotion to Serving Others"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By Adam Stone<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Military service and the practice of law have more in common than one might suppose. Soldiers and lawyers alike are sworn to uphold the Constitution. Both fields involve an element of selfless service. And there are other similarities.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cNothing in the military happens without orders.<\/span> For veterans, <\/span>the legal community offers a system of law and order that they can find comforting,<\/span>\u201d says Hugh McClean,<\/span> UBalt Law associate professor and director of The Bob Parsons Veterans Advocacy Clinic<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>

In addition, \u201ct<\/span>here\u2019s a belief that the military has a higher standard of professionalism, of morals,\u201d McClean says. \u201cThat is an ideal that both military members and members of the bar share: That we\u2019re fighting a just fight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Veterans who\u2019ve explored that intersection via a UBalt legal education have found success inside and outside the military: In intelligence law and international law, as JAG officers, and as civil litigators. Here are a few of their stories.<\/span><\/p>

Kristina Sargent, J.D. \u201916\"Kristina<\/span><\/b><\/h4>

In 2012, Kristina Sargent earned a UBalt master\u2019s degree in <\/span>Legal and Ethical Studies. But that wasn\u2019t enough for her. An enlisted Army National Guard soldier at the time, she deployed to the Gaza Strip, then came back to UBalt for a law degree.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cMy last day of active duty with the National Guard was August 11, 2013, and my first day of law school was August 13,\u201d she says. A service-related disability kept her from making officer, so she didn\u2019t become a JAG. But Sargent found other ways to put her law degree to work after leaving the service with the rank of sergeant. (Yes: That\u2019s Sgt. Sargent!)<\/span><\/p>

The Bob Parsons Veterans Advocacy Clinic at UBalt Law introduced Sargent to her mentor, Maryland District Court Judge Halee Weinstein. \u201cShe opened the first Veterans Docket, and I helped her develop the mentor program through that,\u201d Sargent says. \u201cWhen I couldn\u2019t get the medical clearance to be a JAG, she said: <\/span>Be a prosecutor. You\u2019ll love being a prosecutor!<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Sargent did love it. She worked as a prosecutor in Baltimore City for five years and calls it \u201cthe most fulfilling job that I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d She has since moved to Florida, where she is a partner with Burger, Meyer & D\u2019Angelo. She says her military experience has been a key driver of her success as a lawyer.<\/span><\/p>

In uniform, \u201ca large part of my life was just trying to stay alive, while taking care of the welfare of others,\u201d she says. That gives her some perspective, she says. <\/span><\/p>

Tom Jones, J.D. \u201999<\/span><\/b><\/h4>

\"Tom<\/span><\/b><\/p>

For<\/span> Tom Jones, legal practice and military service are naturally complementary.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThey both entail wanting to do things for others and being a part of something bigger than ourselves,\u201d he says. \u201cMy time at UB was filled with participation in student organizations, and that set me up with a great foundation of serving others when I joined the Navy. If I\u2019m not serving people, I don\u2019t feel fulfilled, and that started at UB Law.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Serving others took many forms over the course of Jones\u2019 20-year military career. He worked first in the Trial Service Office Southeast Detachment in Jacksonville, Fla., and went on to do tours at Naval Legal Service Office Pacific and the Naval Amphibious Base on Coronado Island in San Diego.<\/span><\/p>

The game changed when Jones signed on to do legal work with the SEALs, a job he asked for after the events of 9\/11. \u201cI felt like I wanted to be as close to the tip of the spear as I could,\u201d he says. In repeated tours in Iraq, he helped legal authorities there to hold insurgents accountable for their actions. As one of the first JAG officers to be embedded with tactical SEAL teams and Task Force, he was \u201ca bit of a trailblazer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

At UBalt Law, Professor Mortimer (Tim) Sellers, director of the Center for International and Comparative Law (CICL), \u201cwas a great mentor to me,\u201d Jones says. Sellers offered advice as Jones steered toward international law, \u201cand throughout my career. I\u2019d also ask what I could do to help any other CICL fellows to get into the field.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Jones recently completed an advanced degree at the University of Cambridge under the Faculty of Law, where he studied Baltimore\u2019s homicide issues. \u201cI intend to return to Baltimore and get involved wherever the city needs me most,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>

Shane Bagwell, J.D. \u201916<\/span><\/b><\/h4>

\"Bagwell\"<\/p>

Before law school, Shane Bagwell served as an enlisted Army soldier. After graduation, he returned as a military lawyer. He served as a trial defense counsel and later national security law attorney in Hawai\u2019i, deployed with the Special Operations Joint Task Force \u2013 Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Allies Refuge, and worked most recently as a JAG recruiting officer.<\/span><\/p>

On Jan. 21, 2025, he had his resignation letter drafted. \u201cI saw a potential drift towards a casual approach to the rule of law,\u201d he says. But a sense of duty, and a happy coincidence, kept him on board. His husband recently started law school at the University of Hawai\u2019i, and Bagwell was recently promoted to major and is now serving as the chief of national security law for the 25<\/span>th<\/span> Infantry Division.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cYou take care of other people in the military, it\u2019s comrades-at-arms. There is an expectation that we look out for each other,\u201d he says. Even as he pondered resigning, comrades still looked out for him, working hard to get him back to Hawai\u2019i.<\/span><\/p>

With the 25<\/span>th<\/span> Infantry Division, he\u2019ll be handling intelligence law, international law, administrative and fiscal law. \u201cWe\u2019re pivoting back to the Pacific as our main potential theater of conflict, so it\u2019s going to be a pretty busy job,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>

As for his ethical concerns, Bagwell has decided he can help from the inside. \u201cAs a lawyer, you are in a unique place to be the voice of reason, and the voice of what the law requires.\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>

Loui Villanueva, J.D. \u201926<\/span><\/b><\/h4>

\"\"<\/span><\/b><\/p>

In the course of 21 years of service to the Navy, Loui Villanueva wore many hats. He deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, led human resources within the Navy\u2019s radiation protection program, and served as senior medical liaison in an explosive ordnance and disposal training unit.<\/span><\/p>

When he retired in 2020 as chief petty officer, \u201cI had<\/span> had a long career following orders from different leaders, different political motivations, different wars. I just wanted something different,\u201d he says. The law felt like a natural fit.<\/span><\/p>

As a young man, he\u2019d encountered lawyers and judges who encouraged him to join the military and get his life on track. He came away with a positive feeling about what those in the legal profession can do. He also wanted the sense of personal empowerment that comes with an understanding of the law.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cWhen I was in the military, I had the power of keeping people or kicking them out,\u201d he says. Sometimes he had to kick them out simply for failing their fitness requirements, and then those requirements would later change. Rules seemed arbitrary; in hindsight, he wishes he had asked more questions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

He especially laments not having taken a more skeptical eye toward Mideast wars that were perhaps dubious in their justification, and that certainly went on too long. \u201cI regret being in a mindset of adhering to the rules, without challenging why those rules were in place,\u201d he says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Now he\u2019s studying the law with a skeptical eye, asking why things are the way they are, and he\u2019s looking toward a future as perhaps a public defender or a prosecutor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m leaning into challenging the validity of a lot of law, instead of just following the letter,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to see where the limits are.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Adam Stone <\/em><\/strong>is a writer based in Annapolis.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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By Adam Stone Military service and the practice of law have more in common than one might suppose. Soldiers and lawyers alike are sworn to uphold the Constitution. Both fields involve an element of selfless service. And there are other similarities. \u201cNothing in the military happens without orders. For veterans, the legal community offers a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5013"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5285,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5013\/revisions\/5285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}