Matthew Louis Barry

If you are the subject of an investigation by the United States Military Academy, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND hiring Attorney Barry for your legal needs. I am a member of the class of 2021 at USMA. One week before graduation and commission, my commander initiated an investigation into alleged sexual miscon...duct based on rumor and hearsay. My commander later filed a SHARP complaint against me, which triggered a second investigation. As a result, I was unable to graduate and commission with my classmates. Upon receipt of the investigating officers’ findings, I was notified that I would undergo an informal misconduct investigation hearing. This procedure is unique to USMA and is most comparable to a special court martial. The hearing would subject me to a potential other than honorable discharge from the US Army and make me liable for more than $400,000 owed to USMA. At the hearing, I would be forced to defend myself against three allegations of sexual misconduct and and one allegation of an Article 92 violation without any legal representation. Once I had a scheduled hearing date, I hired Attorney Barry as my primary legal counsel. Together with my Trial Defense Services appointed defense attorney, he built my defense against the allegations. I provided Attorney Barry all the letters of support, witness statements, and evidence I had collected. Afterwards, Attorney Barry constructed my Defense, organized the defense witness list, and war-gamed cross-examination. In the lead-up to the hearing, Attorney Barry provided me with a detailed script for the entire proceeding to include an opening statement, direct examination, cross examination, objections to make during the hearing, and a closing statement. It is worth noting that the script laid out several courses of actions to follow based on potential witness testimony in a manner that was easy to understand and follow. Attorney Barry rehearsed the script several times with me in mock trial scenarios and gave me a crash course on legal defense. The script totaled to approximately 25 pages of valuable guidance that was essential for me, an untrained lawyer, to effectively defend myself against serious accusations being made by recently commissioned officers and a couple of senior officers. In the end, all the sexual misconduct allegations were unsubstantiated by the investigating officer, a Colonel, upon completion of the hearing. Attorney Barry and my Trial Defense Services appointed lawyer gave me the necessary skills to prove that the allegations being made against me were coming from homophobic and biased 2nd LTs in the hostile USMA environment. The investigating officer substantiated an Article 92 violation. For the alleged Article 92 violation, the investigating officer recommended I be admonished, the lowest administrative sanction that can be rendered, and graduate as soon as possible. At USMA, the chain of command has the authority to completely ignore what an investigating officer recommends after a misconduct hearing. In my case, the Regimental Tactical Officer (LTC), the Brigade Tactical Officer (COL), and the Commandant (BG) all deviated from the investigating officer’s recommendation and instead recommended I receive a GOMOR before I commissioned. This would have essentially killed my career before it even started. In response, Attorney Barry prepared a detailed two page rebuttal against the chain of command to the Superintendent (LTG) who had final adjudication authority. In it, Attorney Barry emphasized the findings of the Investigating Officer, highlighted the disproportionality of punishment posed by a GOMOR, and emphasized my character and accomplishments as a cadet at USMA. The Superintendent (LTG) affirmed the investigating officer’s findings, upheld the admonishment, and ordered my immediate graduation and commission from USMA. I am now waiting for my official commissioning date, and looking forward to serving my country.

A few months after leaving the Army with an Honorable Discharge I received a memorandum style letter in the mail from Army Human Resources Command stating, "The Department of Defense Consolidated Adjudications Facility (DoD CAF) has found unfavorable information on you per the DoD Continuous Evaluati...on Program. This information was found since or unreported during your last background investigation." There was also an IMREPR flag placed on my Reserve/Veteran profile on my HRCAPPS HRC portal, sort of like an Enlisted Record Brief for IRR Soldiers, I imagine the other Service Branches have something similar to this. Not only would this prevent me from being called up in the IRR should the Army need me, but it would also make me ineligible for Reserve Service if I wanted to. Making this more stressful for me was the dearth of information I found online about the DoD CAF, unlike the Discharge Review Board, which Matt has been helping me with, the DoD CAF along with the whole process of security clearance adjudication was very difficult to find any information on about online, which considerably added to my stress. Like my Review Board case, Matt and literally, his encyclopedic knowledge of Army Regulations along with my own input of submitting various documents relevant to out rebuttal, gave me considerable confidence, doing much to calm myself. What is unique about the help Matt provided is the fact that many Soldiers in the IRR or those with still active security clearances are still under security clearance adjudication, completely unbeknownst to the Veteran. Anything from a felony criminal investigation or an unreported large financial purchase, say a home loan or large auto loan may flag the Veteran with Army HRC via the DoD CAF. Trying to prevent this or at least remedy this, along with the lack of information online and from what I received from the Security Clearance Specialist at HRC was pretty futile. The packet like rebuttal of the documents I submitted to Matt, along with Matt's tremendous help and instruction with FOIA requesting other relevant documents, lead to my Security Clearance Eligibility being reinstated. Which when I return to Service will remove any blemish or negative mark on my military record. I was facing a pretty complicated, bureaucratic and obscure hindrance on returning to service, and Matt successfully helped me fight it. My review is long and relatively detailed, but I know this will be seen by many who are in the same position I was. There is no other attorney I'd rather call than Matt Barry out of Nashville, his encyclopedic knowledge of Army Regulations, his legal education and his experience and most importantly, his attitude towards defending lower ranking, particularly Lower Enlisted troops make him in my eyes, the absolute best choice when it comes to hiring a civilian UCMJ, Security Clearance, or Military Records attorney.

Matt recently took the time to assist me in a VA decision rating claim that had been returned unfavorably. He was diligent in reviewing all of the documents supporting my claim, the rating process from the VA, and listened carefully to my concerns regarding the situation. Matt ensured I could navig...ate the appeals process with confidence as he researched all of my options and gave his expert opinion on how to proceed. I'm very pleased with the way he treated me and my case.

My name is Brian and I wanted to write this comment for everyone to know that Attorney Barry will work very hard for you. Previous to hiring him, I talked to many different law firms. They all gave me the run around and had their paralegals reach back out to me. It was hard to get any information at ...all from them. No one would take my case and they all told me that there was nothing they could do because I needed a discharge upgrade. For 9 years I kept hearing the same thing. I did my own research and submitted my own claim; however, I was still denied by the VA. The day I reached out to Attorney Barry, he, and not a paralegal, did a one hour free consultation with me. He handled my case with optimism and with no promises; but, rather with a pragmatic approach backed by legal analysis. I ended up with a favorable result from the VA after 9 years of fighting because of Attorney Barry. He provided me with legal analysis of my case that I consider of the highest quality. Thank you Attorney Barry! You were instrumental for giving me back my honor that I deserved!

I’m a Captain in the U. S. Army and Attorney Barry represented me during a Board of Inquiry to determine if I was retainable in the Army. A Major General ordered the board to take place and I believed since a General wanted this hearing to happen, I felt I had no hope of being retained. I met wit...h Matthew at the U. S. Army Trial Defense Services office and after explaining what happened he informed me that I had a chance of being retained. That was the first time I had ever had the feeling that I could possibly be retained and save my career. He listened to me and helped me keep calm through the whole process. He worked diligently on my case and always had time to answer my questions or concerns. He was easy to communicate with either in person, by email, by text, or over the phone. Matthew has an exceptionally strong eye for detail that was a benefit to our stance on more than one occasion. He researched state law and determined the prosecutor was planning to use evidence that was expunged and could not be legally used during the board. The prosecutor eventually agreed. He also has a very calm demeanor that was a blessing for myself and character witnesses in and out of the hearing proceedings. He personally worked with all of my character witness and prepared them for the board. Even as the Board date changed, he immediately was on the phone informing all parties involved of the updates. Matthew’s strong sense of organization helped him to always be aware and have the upper-hand in my case. He prepared my defense in a logical order to be presented to the board members. This helped build my case as he walked the Board Members through my military and personal life. The Board recommended that I be retained and I still serve today. Matthew, my family and I are always grateful for the dedication and commitment you showed to my case.