Lance Sigmon
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Lance Sigmon is a United States Civilian Defense Counsel for the United States Armed Forces. He has worked on many key JAG cases, especially those of high profile Iraq War cases, involving those involving theft of firearms and bullet proof vests from Military Personnel, which many argued was a lead into the investigation of the insufficient stock Bullet Proof Vests by the Iraq Study Group.
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[edit] Background
Lance Sigmon was born and raised in a small town in North Carolina. On his eighteenth birthday, Mr. Sigmon entered the Delayed Entry Program in the United States Air Force to qualify for the G.I Bill so that he could later attend college. Shortly after graduating from high school, he entered active duty. Mr. Sigmon served as a defensive aerial gunner aboard a B-52H for the duration of his enlistment. During his enlistment, Mr. Sigmon spent a significant period of time on nuclear alert while stationed at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota.
Soon after completing his four-year commitment, Mr. Sigmon enrolled in college. He graduated with honors from Western Carolina University with a dual major in accounting and economics. Prior to graduation, Mr. Sigmon was selected to attend Wake Forest University School of Law; one of the nation’s highly ranked private law schools. He graduated in 1988, passed the North Carolina state bar, and was admitted to the practice of law.
Mr. Sigmon then elected to return to active duty in the Air Force as a Judge Advocate. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant and re-entered active duty where he would remain until his retirement in September 2005. During his career as a judge advocate, Mr. Sigmon served in various capacities in the judge advocate corps; however, he always focused in the area of litigation. Most notably, Mr. Sigmon was hand-picked to return to the position of Area Defense Counsel when the assigned defense counsel was removed for cause. His ability to restore confidence in that position remains one of his most noted accomplishments.
As is evident by his resume, Mr. Sigmon spent the final eight years of his career specifically working in the area of military justice. His three years as the Chief Appellate Attorney for the Air Force, during which he supervised other appellate counsel and personally drafted and argued issues before the appellate courts, broadened his expertise immeasurably. Finally, he was personally selected to act as a military judge in all types of courts-martial, which gave him a unique insight into both the process of deciding complicated issues and the difficult process of selecting an appropriate sentence for one convicted of a crime.
Mr. Sigmon is married and has two high-school aged children. He is active in church and enjoys playing golf during his free time.
[edit] Notable Cases
- v. GOGAS
- v. FULTON
- v. HESS
- v. VEENSTRA
- v. Marcum
- v. Hibbard
- v. Smith
- v. Robinson
- v. Davis
- v. Corteguera
- v. Gilbreath
- v. Dorman
- v. Catrett
- v. Thompkins
- v. Corteguera
- v. Rasnick
- v. Pipkin
- v. Mahoney
- v. Josey
- v. Cravens
- v. Burt
- v. Grijalva
- v. Sills
[edit] Notable Appearances
- Cited in the North Carolina Bar association "Great Lawyers" magazine, Volume 4, Page 3
- Frequently featured in many Armed Forces papers, including that of Rammstein Air Base
- Assisted in base operations during a long stay in Germany by Bill Clinton, where Clinton famously investigated foreign policy matters pre-September 11th.
