I retained Stephen Carpenter in July of 2009 to represent me for a Coast Guard administrative separation. I was not entitled to an admin separation hearing so Stephen was left battling my case through superb legal briefs and arguments on the basis of the issue as well as the policy and procedures. ...From the moment I met Stephen he made me feel confident in my case. I was extremely impressed with his knowledge of the military justice system and the adverse administrative military policy. My mind was further at ease when he immediately made contact with my Command to find out exactly how they were proceeding. My case moved quickly through the Coast Guard system and I was ultimately issued General Separation orders. At the time this happened Stephen was overseas defending another military member. Even though at this time we only had e-mail contact he worked hours every day from overseas issuing rebuttal statements on my behalf, pleading my case to very high ranking officials, and arranging several legal reviews of my case. Anytime that I needed any updates, had questions or concerns or just needed to be reassured that everything in his power was being done he made sure that he contacted me immediately. Because of his tireless efforts my administrative separation was overturned and I was retained in the US Coast Guard. Stephen is the best lawyer there is when it comes to military cases. Even when he has multiple cases he is representing at the same time, he makes you feel like yours is the only case that he has. I think that if I had hired anyone else the outcome would have been different. There were several times during my case that I felt defeated and thought there was no way that I would be retained. He never gave up on me or my case and never made me feel like I was not going to win. I highly recommend him to anyone who is dealing with military justice or adverse administrative actions. He is definitely the best lawyer in the Northwest and possibly that you will find anywhere in the country.

Stephen Carpenter was recommended to me by a JAG criminal defense attorney, based on his performance, knowledge, and experience. He is highly respected in the military law community. Mr.Carpenter is very understanding, trustworthy, and genuinely cares about his clients. I made the best decision of my... life by having him represent me as my counsel. My case went on for over a year; I had to wait more than a year for my court-martial. I turned down an article 15 because I have not committed the offense, and I had so much to lose. I had a Green to Gold ROTC scholarship and accepting the article 15 meant losing everything I worked for. I had so much at stake. I felt helpless with my leadership wanting to take everything I worked for away and punish me for something I didn't do. I wanted truth, fairness, and justice. Mr.Carpenter was compassionate and listened to everything I had to say, and truthfully answered all my questions. He kept me informed and updated on everything, and understood the importance of the matter to my military career and my life. Thanks to Mr.Carpenter, I was fully aquitted by military panel, and everything worked out perfectly. The only thing is that I had to wait for over a year, because it was hard to get an earlier court martial date. The wait was depressing and painful, but it was worth the wait to get the result that freed me. I am currently updating my green to gold packet to go to Vanderbilt University. He believed in me and gave it all he got. He passionately fought for me and I am forever grateful. He changed my life; I will always remember what he did for me. Now I can move on with my life.

Stephen represented me recently in a case where I was being accused of what could have amounted to a Class-A Felony. I was investigated by both state and military law enforcement, and could have faced a state grand jury, as well as a General Courts Martial. Upon my initial consultation with Steve ove...r the phone, I was immediately impressed with his knowledge and experience level, not to mention the sincerely personal level of care he had in seeing to my best interests. This man genuinely cared about what happened to me, and worked vigorously on my case. He protected me from the cunning and deceiving tactics of investigators, and took immediate action on my behalf when necessary. Being a former Army officer and JAG attorney, Stephen is very well versed in the military culture, which only adds to the plethora of amazing skills he possesses by relieving his military clients of time-consuming explanations of military verbage, lexicon, policies, and procedures. Steve made my case personal to him, which was clear through and through. The costs for services of this attorney are in-line with the outstanding product he delivers, and he was very flexible on payment for his service. I was almost always to get a hold of him via cell phone or email, but if not, he returned correspondence in a timely manner. As a result of having such a skilled and tried attorney on my side, both the state DA and military prosecutor declined to even file charges against me, and at no point was I arrested or even questioned by investigators. I have faced no repercussions of this allegation, and remain on active duty. This was achieved by getting Steve on board IMMEDIATELY upon realizing that I was being investigated. If you are in any military criminal situation, do realize that this is THE MOST CRITICAL time of the entire process, and it is IMPERATIVE that you hire an attorney of Steve’s caliber immediately, and definitely before you decide to speak to anyone regarding your case. Should I not have done so, it is relatively apparent that I would have been arrested and charged by doing what I thought was “right.” The associated defense costs ARE worth your career, reputation, and freedom. Steve is a world class Military Defense Attorney, and you want him to represent you. -Active Duty E5

I retained Mr. Carpenter's services in the fall '09 for criminal defense matters. . My case was recommended for special courts-martial. Mr. Carpenter did everything he could to try to get the convening authority to handle it through a captain's mast or summary courts-martial. The effort he put in for... this was beyond what I expected, even considering he had other clients and was traveling around the country. I still felt that I was his only case. In the weeks before my court-martial his preparation work was amazing and he filed several motions to dismiss my case with court. At the hearing before my trial Mr. Carpenter clearly outclassed the prosecution and debunked any argument they had to move forward on. His knowledge of military law and how the system works is second to none and it showed in the results he was able to get me. He was able to get my case dismissed prior to trial, obviously the best result possible. Mr. Carpenter's hard work and dedication to his clients is superb, and he receives my full recommendation to any one in need of a world class attorney. He puts forth the effort and is well worth the more than fair price he charges. You will get your moneys worth and more.

Steve did an exceptional job in representing us in the case. He was thorough and diligent in pursuing this case with the JAG officers involved. He was truly interested in getting a resolution on both a personal and professional level. His is a one person practice and I think it worked well as comp...ared to having an attorney from some monolithic law firm. Steve knows military law (UCMJ) and is not an attorney who dabbles in this and that and merely goes through the motions. He is not egocentric and will involve others who have more expertise in a particular area than he does. He seems to have a excellent reource pool of ex JAG officers in private practice who can and will provide answers he may not have. In other words he will admit when he has reached an area where he lacks expertise and will involve others who can provide answers in both the private and government sectors as it may pertain to a case. Bottom-line... if you need a civilian attorney who knows military law, contact Steve. If your case is serious, avoid a JAG attorney because they have to answer to the military and at the end of the day they have careers to think about.