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Among the deaths in this particularly violent month for U.S. troops in Iraq were those of two senior staffers in the Army's legal department in the downing of a helicopter on the banks of the Tigris River 10 days ago.

Given their high-profile roles, the deaths of Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth and Army Command Sgt. Maj. Cornell W. Gilmore reverberated through the ranks of the Army Judge Advocate General Corps, which functions as a full-service law firm for soldiers and generals alike.

"The loss of our two top soldiers has torn a hole in all our hearts," said Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Romig, the Army's judge advocate general, or JAG. The pair were not lawyers, but ran all support services for the Army JAG Corps.

The deaths highlight the largely unknown, but crucial role military lawyers and legal staff play in both the battlefield and barracks. The combat deaths also underscore the potential problems in a controversial proposal in May by Army General Counsel Steven Morello to slash the JAG Corps by two-thirds, and replace the uniformed lawyers with civilian lawyers under his domain.

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The plan was widely criticized by former JAGs, who don't think civilian lawyers can fill the versatile roles of military lawyers.

"The uniform lawyers have a unique capability," said John D. Hutson, former Navy Judge Advocate General and now dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire. "They're mobile. You can literally order them around. They can go to faraway places, do hazardous, arduous duty. And you are just not going to find in the long haul civilian lawyers willing to do it."

It is hard to imagine a civilian lawyer from the general counsel's office boarding a UH-60 Black Hawk to visit the JAG lawyers and staff in the field with the 101st Airborne, as Swartworth and Gilmore were doing when they were killed.

"We're not pampered," said Bruce Ellis Fein, of the law firm Fein and Fein, and an Army Reserve JAG officer deployed to Iraq. In an e-mail interview, Fein described what life was like as a JAG lawyer in Baghdad. "Our motto is 'Soldiers first, lawyers always.'

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"As soldiers first, we, like everyone, do our fair share of 'grunt' work: guard duty, packing and lugging gear, monitoring the radio for hours on end, physical training, driving vehicles, filling out forms, arranging logistics, waiting in line, providing security," Fein said. "We never go out unarmed."

It seems everything in life these days requires a lawyer. Even war. And JAG lawyers do all sorts of war and peacetime lawyering. They give briefings on the rules of war and international law on the battlefield and the deck of a ship.

They provide soldiers counsel regarding re-employment, interest rates, taxes, power of attorney, wills and even marital separation and divorce, though they won't represent a soldier in court on personal matters.

They also serve as the prosecutors and defense attorneys in criminal matters when soldiers get in trouble.

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They even process claims filed against the United States. Yes, claims, as in requests for reimbursement from the U.S. government because of war-related accidents, such as when a Bradley tank collides with a pickup truck in downtown Baghdad.

"I personally have done some of everything," Fein said.

So has Capt. Dan Sennott, 30, who is deployed in Iraq with the 1st Armored Division. He spoke to Hearsay by telephone from Baghdad last week. Sennott, a native of Milwaukee and graduate of Marquette University and the University of Illinois law school, said his wide-ranging duties included two courts martial this month -- one involving theft of money from an Iraqi, another involving disrespect of a superior officer.

Sennott has given a battery of briefings, much like continuing legal education seminars, to soldiers on the law of war and the rules of engagement, "so they understand what the rules are and what the laws are and what our mission is. The biggest thing we try to convey to our soldiers is our mission -- to protect the people of Iraq and bring stability to their country."

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Many former JAGs believe that such responsibilities require uniformed lawyers.

Morello, a political appointee, proposed the cuts in uniformed officers during a speech at a U.S. Army Materiel Command legal conference in May at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The same month, the Air Force ordered the uniformed JAG lawyers to report to the politically appointed general counsel. Now, many former judge advocate generals criticize the moves as toppling a careful balance of power. They argue that shifting legal decision-making to political appointees inherently politicizes the advice given to commanders in the field and civilian leaders in the Pentagon.

"You can't politicize the uniform side of the house," Hutson said. "But you can politicize the civilian side of the house."

An Army spokesman said Morello, Romig and senior Army lawyers were discussing "how best to satisfy requirements for legal services," Maj. Steve Stover said. "It would be premature to speculate about the outcome of those discussions or any potential review that might result from them."

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Hutson, the Army JAG from 1997 to 2000, said, "They are trying to politicize the services in a very robust kind of way. This is just not well thought out. Transferring JAG billets to civilian is shortsighted and nonsensical, and in the end will undermine readiness."

Each branch of the military has a JAG Corps, but each divvies up the work with civilian lawyers in the general counsel's office a bit differently. JAG exclusively handles criminal matters and enforces the Uniformed Code of Military Justice. General Counsels generally handle contract matters, but not always. JAGs deal with operational matters, but there is overlap. The rest, from environmental to interagency jurisdictional matters, can fall in between.

The Navy and Marines have about 1,100 JAG lawyers and 600 civilian lawyers. The Air Force has 1,300 lawyers and 300 civilian lawyers. The Army has 1,500 lawyers and 100 civilian lawyers, but Morello's proposal would reduce the JAGs to 500 and beef up civilian counsel.

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Though not lawyers, Swartworth and Gilmore ran the branch of the JAG that provides legal assistants, paralegals and staff who work with the 1,500 JAG lawyers in the U.S. Army. They were in Iraq to inspect the troops and make sure the field lawyers had the resources and equipment to do their jobs.

Swartworth and Gilmore were well regarded in the tightknit organization. Sennott gives Swartworth credit for making sure that lawyers and staff in the field were well-equipped with laptop computers and CD-ROMs with up-to-date legal references ranging from international treaties to probate law.

"Chief Swartworth was one of the people, the leading voice, in automating the JAG Corps," Sennott said. "As a result of that we have seen real benefits at the brigade level. We have the computer systems and the information technology to support the brigade."

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Gilmore was known as a charismatic leader in the corps. Fein attended a welcome talk given by Gilmore at his JAG officer basic course at the JAG training school in Charlottesville a year ago.

"I well remember his warm but martial enthusiasm," Fein said, "and his assurance to the fledgling Army lawyers, 'The Army legal noncommissioned officers are here to help you! We know what we are doing, and we know what you need to do, and we love to help. Please lean on us.' "

Gilmore, who was born in Baltimore and lived in Stafford, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery last week. Swartworth, who until recently had lived in Fairfax County, is to be buried today at Arlington.

Merger of Mediators

JAMS, the nation's largest mediation service, acquired Washington-based ADR Associates LLC on Friday. The terms were not disclosed.

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The Irvine, Calif., firm's acquisition of the D.C. alternative-dispute-

resolution outfit expands JAMS's presence in Washington by about one-third. ADR has eight mediators and arbitrators, six in Washington and two in New York.

For now, the firms will keep their separate locations, with the ADR partners staying at Dupont Circle and JAMS remaining at its Metro Center location.

In Defense of Oneself

As a Virginia Beach jury resumes deliberations today in the trial of accused sniper John Allen Muhammad, we mull the Sisyphusian task of the defense lawyers and we think back to another death penalty case involving Muhammad attorney Jonathan Shapiro.

Shapiro, who is representing Muhammad along with lead defense attorney Peter D. Greenspun, last year served as stand-by counsel for Christopher Wills, who defended himself in federal court in Alexandria. Wills was convicted of kidnapping and murder. He was facing the death penalty, but was sentenced to life in prison.

So it must have been deja vu all over again for Shapiro when Muhammad briefly benched his defense attorneys and gave opening statements to the jury, during which he infamously said about the sniper shootings, "They wasn't there. I was. I know what happened, and I know what didn't happen."

The next day, Muhammad let his defense team take over.

In a Legal Times story last year, Shapiro was quoted in a story about people who represent themselves while their lawyers sit idly by.

About the Wills case, he said, "It was the most difficult experience I've ever had in a courtroom. I would never in my life get involved in a situation like that again."

Hearsay prosecutes war every other week in Washington Business. Fire your e-mails to hearsay@washpost.com.

Two senior Army legal staff members were among the six people killed when this Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq on Nov. 7.Sgt. Maj. Cornell W. Gilmore, left, and Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth, in the picture beside her father, Bernard Mayo, were not lawyers, but ran the support services for the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps.

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