Catherine Mary Cherkasky

Catherine Mary Cherkasky (aka Katie) is indisputably the best military lawyer in the world. Katie has represented me for over 2 years now. Katie is brilliant, articulate, intelligent, and beautiful. She possesses huge amounts of common sense, and is cool, calm & collected at all times. I can t...hink of no finer professional who performs their duties in a noteworthy manner! Fox News agrees with me...Katie is their “go to” expert on many legal issues. It was crazy being in confinement, and seeing “my lawyer” opining on Fox News, regarding some legal issue of the day...it gave me inspiration, and boosted my morale! Katie filed my Appellate Brief to the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals on 24 September 2018. She made sure I got a copy the same day. The instant I read through it, I knew my serious conviction would be set aside “WITH PREJUDICE” for factual & legal insufficiency by the Appellate Court Judges. It took nine more long months in confinement, but on 1 July 2019, the Appellate Court Judges set aside my serious conviction “WITH PREJUDICE” and my sentence in its entirety! Imagine being me for a second at 1610 on 1 July 2019, and you get a legal call from your lawyer, informing you of the good news. I don’t get choked up often, being an Infantry Marine, but I was babbling like a baby that afternoon when Katie called me with the good news! Katie’s brief on my behalf will be studied by generations of future law school students. It was the perfect brief...read the transcript! The brief was so good that the Appellate Court didn’t require “Oral Arguments”...no need to waste time & money when Katie had laid it out so perfectly! Following my EXONERATION, Katie & Andy continued to stick with me. They negotiated my release from confinement, and “NO PUNISHMENT” for the remaining minor convictions. I will literally do anything for Katie until my last dying breath! Katie had my back through the Appellate Court’s total acquittal...I will have her back forever! Semper Fidelis, Formerly, Colonel Dan Wilson, USMC #JustDanNow!

I went to NJP for a domestic violence charge prior to contacting Catherine. I decided to appeal after finding out that my CO had issued the harshest punishment he could, even though he had not reviewed all of the evidence, and that's when I called her. She immediately sympathized and was more than ...willing to help from the moment she answered the phone. Catherine explained how things worked in the appeal process much more clearly than my command explained had, and she was just as determined to do something about it as I was. Even though Catherine was literally on the other side of the country from me, she defended me and fought for me assertively, professionally, and tirelessly. My command quickly learned that I was not just a sailor who was just going to "sit down and take it" when I was presenting them with the documents that Catherine was writing on my behalf. Ultimately Catherine's diligence and expertise resulted in my NJP being overturned and the charges were dropped against me. All punitive measures were removed from my record. I would give Catherine Cherkasky the highest possible recommendation for anyone seeking legal counsel! Thank you, Mrs. Cherkasky!!!

After meeting with the on base Area Defense Counsel I quickly realized I was going to need more help than that office could provide. Katie and Andrew Cherkasky were on the phone with me within hours of me reaching out and quickly started advising me of my different options. I ultimately decided to ...accept and Article 15 forum over court martial. Initially, I wondered if paying for legal advice for responding to an Article 15 would be worth it. Now that the process has come to a close I can tell you it was WORTH EVERY PENNY. Katie worked to get me an extension for my response and then was in constant dialogue with me to work on several different versions until I was happy with the final product. The government had everything that needed against me to make the charges stick. Thanks to the legal response put together on my behalf I was able to get one charge thrown out. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my initial fee also covered my legal response for the appeal process. The bottom line is that it was extremely helpful and reassuring through this entire process to have a legal expert I could quickly get trusted advice from. When security clearance issues came up Katie was able to answer several of my questions directly. When issues got outside her realm of expertise she helped me get a free consult with a colleague who exclusively worked clearance cases. Whether I had questions about due process concerns, potential discharge actions or strategy changes Katie responded quickly and thoughtfully to make sure I had the information needed to make my next decision. If you find yourself facing any military punishment get this team on your side!

I am very happy that I chose to retain Katie Cherkasky after learning that I was facing an article 15. Katie was very helpful from the start, always answered my phone calls, and replied to my emails in a very timely manor. Her appeal memos were well written and explored all possible means to defend m...y innocence. I would highly recommend Katie Cherkasky for any service member facing non judicial punishment or court martial.