Capt. Greg Belanger leads the U.S. Naval Legal Service Ofiice Pacific, which recently recieved the American Bar Association Distinguished Service Award for its legal assistance to military personnel. (David J. Carter / Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The American Bar Association has named Navy Legal Service Office Pacific, headquartered at Yokosuka, the recipient of its 2008 Distinguished Service Award.
The award is presented to just one legal command in the U.S. military annually for excellence in providing legal assistance to military personnel.
"We are uniformly proud and grateful to receive the honor of this award," said Capt. Greg Belanger, who leads Navy Legal Service Office Pacific, with individual offices in Yokosuka; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Naval Station Guam; and Sasebo Naval Base, Japan. "It’s a great tribute to the sailors and civilians that worked very hard last year."
It’s the first time the Navy’s Pacific legal team has received the award.
The award citation pointed to the team’s efforts with tax preparation, foreclosure assistance, consumer credit training, and legal assistance program initiatives which enable military attorneys to represent their clients in civilian courts.
Belanger said his team’s main goal is to provide legal assistance and legal-defense services for Navy personnel but that the award was presented specifically for the team’s legal assistance efforts.
"We represent the individual sailor," he said
For American servicemembers in the region, there really aren’t other legal service providers available, Belanger said, making his team all the more important.
"We are the U.S. licensed lawyers in theater," he said.
Added Belanger: "We try to take the problems from the sailors in the fleet and work on the issues for them, so they can carry out their mission of executing the fleet’s business."
