Jeffrey Liebenguth

Jeff Liebenguth specializes in defending military service members facing court martial, NJP, adverse administrative proceedings, and criminal appeals for allegations of rape, sexual assault, fraud, drug offenses, violent crimes, and all other UCMJ military offenses. Although based out of Hawaii, Mr. Liebenguth's practice is worldwide.

He is a retired Marine Corps military attorney (Judge Advocate) as well as a former member of the United States Coast Guard. He is a graduate of Amherst College, Emory University School of Law, and the Marine Corps University Resident Command & Staff College, where he received a Master’s Degree in Military Studies. Mr. Liebenguth worked at the Pentagon and taught military law at the United States Naval Academy. He has also been an invited speaker at military criminal-law conferences in California and Washington, D.C.

Since beginning the practice of law in 2003, Mr. Liebenguth has litigated high-stakes military criminal cases from every perspective possible: as a defense counsel, an appellate defense counsel, a prosecutor, and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. As an appellate defense counsel, he successfully petitioned the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals for oral argument in a remarkable 17 cases, including:

Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (C.A.A.F.): United States v. Stewart, 71 M.J. 38 (C.A.A.F.), United States v. Hayes, 70 M.J. 454 (C.A.A.F.), United States v. Bradley, 71 M.J. 13 (C.A.A.F.) (Attempted Murder Case), United States v. Norwood, 71 M.J. 204 (C.A.A.F.), United States v. Watson, 71 M.J. 54 (C.A.A.F.), United States v. Fosler, 70 M.J. 225 (C.A.A.F.) (Cited in Manual for Courts-Martial), United States v. Sullivan, 70 M.J. 110 (C.A.A.F.)

Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.):United States v. Parker, 71 M.J. 594 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.) (Death-Sentence Case), United States v. McGuire, 2012 CCA LEXIS 458 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.), United States v. Warren, 71 M.J. 505 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.), United States v. Hackler, 70 M.J. 624 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.), United States v. Fosler, 69 M.J. 669 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.), United States v. Hayes, 2010 CCA LEXIS 364 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.), United States v. Saxman, 69 M.J. 540 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.), United States v. Soucie, 2010 CCA LEXIS 703 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.), United States v. Warner, 2010 CCA LEXIS 55 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.) (Murder-for-Hire Case), United States v. Wood, 2010 CCA LEXIS 24 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App.)

As a result of his success, Mr. Liebenguth was recognized as the “Silver C.A.A.F. Tongue” award winner for arguing more cases than any other military appellate defense counsel.

As a defense counsel and prosecutor, he has litigated felony-level cases, including but not limited to those involving allegations of murder, attempted murder, rape, sexual assault, assault and battery, burglary, and child endangerment. Mr. Liebenguth has also been accepted for publication on a wide range of military topics, including alcohol-related sexual assault and the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act. His professional affiliations and licensing include the Supreme Court of the United States, the Court of Appeals of the Armed Forces, the Supreme Court of Hawaii, the Hawaii State Bar Association, and the District of Columbia Bar Association.