WASHINGTON, D.C., May 10, 2012 — Ten attorneys—including nine military attorneys—were sworn in to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States on April 18 at a ceremony facilitated by the American Bar Association.  Following the ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court, many of the newly admitted members who can now represent litigants in the nation’s highest court attended a reception hosted by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.  Mark David Agrast, deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs, sponsored their admission.

Admission was granted to the following attorneys:

• Lt. Col. James Van Biber III of Kansas is a fiscal-law attorney for the National Guard Bureau;
• Col. Kurt Brubaker of Virginia is director of the Government Appellate Division, U.S. Marine Corps Appellate Review Activity;
• Maj. Christine Fontenelle of the U.S. Virgin Islands is a trial attorney for the Contract and Fiscal Law Division at the U.S. Army Legal Services Agency;
• Cmdr. DeAndrea G. Fuller of Tennessee is an associate general counsel for Installations and Environment at the Department of Defense in the Pentagon;
• Capt. Robert Goodin of Florida is an Army judge advocate for the District of Columbia National Guard and a civilian fiscal-law attorney for the Department of the Air Force at the National Guard Bureau;
• Capt. Paul Grandpierre of Washington, D.C., is an administrative-law attorney at the National Guard Bureau;
• Heidi Hanley of Virginia is a labor- and employment-law civilian attorney for the Department of the Army Headquarters;
• Lt. Col. Erin McMahon of Oregon is chief of staff of legal operations in the National Guard Bureau;
• Lt. David Melson of Maryland is a judge advocate for the U.S. Navy Administrative Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General; and
• Capt. Adelia M. Watson of Costa Rica is a judge advocate in the Office of the Judge Advocate General, International and Operational Law Division of the U.S. Army.

For photos from the swearing in ceremony, please click here.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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