PROFILE:Cdr Patrick Burke, legal adviser to the Army
NOT EVERY law graduate ends up spending their days in a wig and gown in the courts, or sitting behind a desk in a law firm for the rest of their career. Some lawyers – such as military legal adviser Cdr Patrick Burke – live a life less ordinary.
The Irish Defence Forces has a small, dedicated legal service made up of commissioned officers from the Army, Air Corps and the Naval Service who, in addition to their military roles, are also qualified solicitors and barristers.
Cdr Burke, for instance, started out his career as a cadet in the Naval Service, working his way up through the ranks at sea.
In addition to his maritime duties, he completed a law degree part-time at UCC, followed by a master’s of law. He was called to the bar in 2000. He was then selected by the Defence Forces’ legal service to become a military legal adviser – or “legad” in Army jargon – and since then his experiences have been amazingly diverse.
He is currently serving as legad to the officer commanding the 105th infantry battalion in Tibnin, south Lebanon. As a military lawyer, Cdr Burke’s job is to advise his battalion commander on all aspects of command responsibility, but an important part of his role is to brief soldiers on the law of armed conflict.
“In potentially violent situations, soldiers are expected to decide instantly and under fire what is right and wrong, not only morally but legally,” he says. The law of armed conflict gives soldiers a legal framework within which to operate.
Therefore Irish soldiers are trained on a myriad of legal issues, such as the responsibility to protect the civilian population, weapon usage, the prohibition on torture and also rules of engagement. All Irish units deployed overseas are also briefed extensively on human rights law and detention operations.
Before deployment, legads also help to run realistic battle exercises to ensure that Irish soldiers “fight it right”.
“The Irish Defence Forces have a long, proud and hard-won reputation internationally as peacekeepers,” he says. “Inherent in successful peacekeeping operations is restraint in the use of military force by soldiers.”
Domestically, he has provided legal advice when Defence Forces personnel have been deployed to help the civil authorities for landmark events, such as the State visits of US presidents George Bush and Barack Obama, and of Queen Elizabeth.
The legal implications of the Defence Forces acting in a law- enforcement support mode were “subtle and nuanced”, he says.
During the US presidential visits, for example, specific air corridors and non-flight access, except for the presidential flight, were established in Irish air space. These had to be enforced not only by the Air Corps, but also by soldiers on the ground to prevent any potential attack on the aircraft as it approached to land.
Naval Service ships were also deployed to ensure there were no potential seaborne attacks. Furthermore, all non-essential air and marine movements were temporarily suspended, and the Defence Forces helped the Garda to enforce this security measure.
“This involved briefings on powers under the Air Navigation Acts and also under Irish law of the sea to the respective elements of the Defence Forces deployed,” he says.
He has also prosecuted extensively at courts-martial throughout the country.
Soldiers can find themselves facing a court-martial for offences against military law of a disciplinary nature, such as absence without leave, or for more serious offences which may be both disciplinary and criminal in nature. Cdr Burke has prosecuted offences including desertion, assault between soldiers, theft, sexual assault and the unauthorised disclosure of State ship locations by a serviceman to people attempting to illegally import drugs into Ireland.
Indeed, he also provided legal advice during Operation Seabight in 2008, which saw the Naval Service, in co-operation with the Garda and Revenue’s Customs service, apprehend the yacht Dances with Waves at sea with an estimated street value of €750 million worth of cocaine onboard.
Meanwhile in Bosnia, he has advised on the use of force by specialist teams deployed in the search for people indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He also gave advice on the lawful gathering of intelligence and surveillance in support of this operation, to ensure that any such evidence would hold up in local courts.
Because of the breadth of a legad’s responsibilities, advisers such as Cdr Burke have to be well-versed in numerous areas of law ranging from international human rights law and the law of armed conflict to commercial, criminal and employment law.
He says that “unquestionably” the most rewarding part of his job is the variety, as well as the challenge of ensuring the legal compliance of military operations.
“As a military legal adviser, you’re a key part of the command team and play an important role in the planning and execution of complex military operations both home and abroad – there really is no other legal position quite like it.”