Who we are
Breven Parsons
Colonel,USMC (Ret.)
Judge Advocate
Of Counsel
Breven retired from the U.S. Marine Corps after 24 years of service as a judge advocate. Due to his natural leadership skills and ability, the Marine Corps selected Breven for service as a Commanding Officer for Marine Corps Embassy Security Guards and as a UN Military Observer in a conflict zone (both rare opportunities reserved for only the best Marine officers). Aside from these tours outside his specialty, Breven spent the majority of his active duty service litigating military criminal cases and supervising litigation teams. His final assignment in the Marine Corps blended his leadership skills with his military justice expertise when he was selected to serve as the Officer in Charge of Legal Services Support Team-West, where he was responsible for ensuring timely and competent provision of legal services for all Marine Corps commands and service members on the West Coast (including prosecution, defense, administrative law, civil law and legal assistance).
Originally from the mid-west, Breven was admitted to the Kansas Bar in October of 1995 and practiced law in the Kansas City area in general practice from 1995 to 1997. With a desire to serve his country and serve others, he joined the Marine Corps in June of 1997 and completed the basic Marine Officer and judge advocate training pipeline in July of 1998, graduating from the Naval Justice School with honors. Breven was then assigned to the Joint Law Center at Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar in San Diego, where he served as a prosecutor for three years, completing hundreds of courts-martial and administrative proceedings, including several high-profile cases.
“[Breven’s] strong work ethic and knowledge of the law has earned him the reputation of being one of the most sought-after prosecutors in the busiest judicial circuit in the DoD.” – Lieutenant Colonel, USMC, 2000
Breven was then assigned to the Navy Legal Services Office, Yokosuka, Japan in 2001, where he served as a Civil Law Department Head, Defense Counsel, and Senior Defense Counsel. It was during this assignment that he also deployed as a UN Military Observer. As the Senior Defense Counsel, Breven’s experience as a prosecutor enabled him to ensure superior representation of his team’s military clients, whose charges ran the gamut from the most serious offenses to countless nonjudicial punishment and administrative matters.
“My choice for the most demanding and complex [criminal defense] cases.” CAPT, JAGC, USN, Commanding Officer, 2003
In 2004, Breven was assigned to the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate for Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Installations West, where he led the Military Justice Section, deployed as the legal advisor for 1st Battalion, 5th Marines to Ramadi, Iraq, served as the Deputy, SJA for the Regional Commanding General, and led one of the busiest prosecution offices in the Department of Defense.
In 2007, Breven was selected to attend The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (U.S. Army), where he graduated with an advanced law degree in International and Operational Law. With a passion and expertise for litigation and military justice he volunteered to coach mock trial teams for the University of Virginia Law School. Upon graduation with his LLM, he was hand selected for assignment to the Pentagon in the Marine Corps’ Judge Advocate Division where he was the Deputy Branch Head for the Military Justice Branch. In this assignment, among other duties, Breven was assigned as the Marine Corps working group member for the Joint Services Committee for Military Justice, which proposed amendments now implemented into the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Breven also has significant experience in advising and shaping the Marine Corps’ official position on hundreds of criminal and administrative law cases, including, Board of Correction of Naval Records cases, Navy Discharge Review Board appeals, officer misconduct cases, and high-profile law of war violation cases. In 2010, he secured permission from the Commandant of the Marine Corps for personnel and funding to create a headquarters-level Prosecutor Support and Training Branch, which still provides support to Marine Corps prosecutors worldwide.
“[Breven] is widely recognized as a Marine Corps expert and sought out speaker on military justice topics with remarkable versatility and breadth of capabilities in a wide range of military law topics.” -Lieutenant Colonel, USMC, 2009
Breven was next assigned to lead the Joint Law Center at MCAS Miramar and serve as the legal advisor for the Installation Commander. During this tour, the Commandant of the Marine Corps directed a reorganization of the provision of legal services and advice throughout the Corps, and Breven was selected to spearhead the realignment of services at three Marine Corps installations, which were consolidated under his charge. After the realignment, he supervised the prosecution, defense, administrative law, legal assistance and civil law services for the hundreds of commands and thousands of service members on these installations from 2012 to 2014. Breven was next selected for command and reported as Commanding Officer of Marine Corps Embassy Security Group Region 1, providing security for 19 Embassies and Consulates in 16 nations, primarily in the former Soviet Republics in Eastern Europe and Asia.
“A leader we rally around. Workhorse, invariably ‘rewarded’ with the most difficult assignments.” – Major General, USMC 2012
Following a successful command tour, Breven returned to his first love—military justice litigation and served as the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Staff Judge Advocate, and as the Officer in Charge of Legal Services Support Section-West (the largest in the Marine Corps) for his last three years on active duty.
Breven was admitted to practice law in California in March of 2021, and served as an attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel in San Diego, for U.S. Customs and Border Protection from September of 2021 to June of 2023. However, his passion for defending servicemembers drew him back to military justice. Breven joined King Military Law as “Of Counsel” in 2023. He also volunteers for the San Diego County Bar Association’s “Wills for Heroes” program and coaches youth sports.
“Breven is precisely what we want our leaders and lawyers to be (but rarely are) – selfless, tireless, honest, and committed. If I ever need a lawyer to represent me or my family he will be my first and only call. I’d trust him with my life.” – Colonel, USMC 2023
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