MISSION
The mission of the United States Marine Corps Victims' Legal Counsel Organization is to provide legal advice, counseling, and representation to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes, and to protect victims' rights at all stages of the military justice process.
WHAT IS A VICTIMS’ LEGAL COUNSEL
A Victims’ Legal Counsel (VLC) is a military attorney whose sole focus is to represent victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, ensuring that the victim has the opportunity to exercise any applicable rights during the military justice process. All victims of sexual assault should be informed and given the opportunity to consult with a VLC as soon as the victim receives assistance from a Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) or Family Advocacy Program (FAP)Victim Advocate, military criminal investigator, victim-witness liaison or coordinator, or military prosecutor.
A VLC will represent victims from pre-investigation through post-trial processing and at all stages in between. The VLC will help victims understand their rights in the military justice process while ensuring that their privacy and dignity is treated with fairness and respect.
ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICES:
Victims’ Legal Counsel Services are offered to all active-duty or active reserve service members, as well as the dependents of such service members, who are victims of sexual assault or domestic violence. Victims of other crimes may be eligible for services and their eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
CONFIDENTIALITY
A Victims’ Legal Counsel is a licensed attorney assigned to the Marine Corps Victims’ Legal Counsel Organization. When eligible for VLC services, victims will form an attorney client relationship with the VLC creating an attorney client privilege for certain conversations. The limits of confidentiality will vary based on the license of each attorney and will be thoroughly discussed prior to the attorney client relationship being formed. Notably, VLCs are not mandatory reporters within the military system for past occurrences and can therefore provide advice on sensitive topics without that information being released to other organizations.
The VLC belongs to an independent supervisory chain whose sole mission is to represent eligible victims. An independent chain of command is key to ensuring that no other commands could influence the VLC’s decisions while protecting victim rights.