JAG Officer Now Providing Legal Counsel to Rhode Island Service Members
Sailors accused of misconduct at Naval Station Newport share a zip code with the institution that trains the Navy’s own military lawyers. The Naval Justice School sits on this base. So do Officer Training Command, the Naval War College, and the engineers of Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport. None of that changes what a service member facing an investigation, a hearing, or a court-martial actually needs: someone in their corner who has practiced military law, not just taught it nearby.
Nelson Robles co-founded Corrao & Robles Law a short drive from Naval Station Newport after serving as a Judge Advocate General’s Corps officer in the U.S. Army. He’s one of the few attorneys serving Rhode Island’s military community who is both licensed to practice in the state and fluent in the UCMJ from having applied it in uniform.
A Defense Attorney Who Didn’t Learn the UCMJ From a Textbook
There’s a real difference between an attorney who has read about courts-martial and one who has stood in them. Nelson Robles spent years on active duty as an Army JAG Major before carrying that record into civilian practice, completing the Judge Advocate Officer Course, the Military Trial Advocacy Course, and the Complex Victim Unit Course, and earning the Army Commendation Medal and the Joint Service Commendation Medal along the way. None of that experience is Army-exclusive — the Uniform Code of Military Justice governs sailors and Marines at Newport exactly as it governed the soldiers he once represented.
Legal Matters Attorney Robles Handles at Naval Station Newport
Newport runs more like a schoolhouse than a fleet base. Officer Candidate School, the Naval War College, the Navy Supply Corps School, and NUWC’s technical workforce make up much of the base’s population, and that mix produces its own kind of legal exposure — honor-code violations and hazing complaints among officer candidates, alongside the investigations, hearings, and boards that touch permanent-party sailors and Marines stationed here.
A washout doesn’t always start with a failed fitness test. Honor-code violations, hazing allegations, and alcohol-related incidents move quickly within Officer Candidate School and Officer Development School, and a finding against a candidate can end a commission before it’s ever earned. Attorney Robles represents candidates and students facing disciplinary boards, academic review, or disenrollment from Newport’s officer accession programs.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service covers both sailors and Marines assigned to Newport, and its agents don’t always announce themselves until a file is already built. Attorney Robles’s advice doesn’t change based on rank or program: no statement, no interview, and no explanation without a lawyer present.
Commanders lean on non-judicial punishment because it resolves quickly, but quick isn’t the same as low-stakes. A finding can cost a sailor rank, pay, and a clean record heading into the next evaluation or a fleet assignment. Attorney Robles reviews the underlying allegation, weighs the option of demanding a court-martial instead, and prepares whichever path the client chooses.
Courts-martial convened out of Newport carry the same exposure as anywhere else in the Navy — a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay, and confinement at the general court-martial level, with special and summary proceedings scaled down but still serious. Attorney Robles represents clients from the Article 32 hearing forward, through trial and, if necessary, an appeal to the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
Sexual assault allegations move through the Navy’s justice system under intense scrutiny, and the reputational cost can start well before a case is resolved. Attorney Robles conducts his own investigation into the facts and holds the government to its burden rather than accepting the initial account.
Plenty of career-ending decisions at Newport never reach a courtroom. Attorney Robles also represents sailors and Marines in matters including:
- Involuntary separation and administrative discharge boards
- Officer candidate disenrollment appeals
- Security clearance revocations and DOHA hearings
- Record correction petitions before the Board for Correction of Naval Records (BCNR)
- Fitness report and evaluation rebuttals
- Letters of reprimand and non-punitive counseling responses
- UA and desertion allegations
- VA disability appeals
- USERRA reemployment disputes
Newport Runs on a Short Clock
OCS and ODS classes graduate in a matter of weeks, not years, and a pending disciplinary matter can outlast the course itself — followed by orders that scatter witnesses and instructors across the fleet before a case is even resolved. The same compressed timeline applies to an Article 15 rebuttal, a clearance appeal, or a BCNR petition, where deadlines are often measured in days. Getting a lawyer involved before a hearing, a board, or a first interview is frequently the only way to keep every option on the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Serving the Newport Naval Base Military Community
Attorney Robles represents sailors, Marines, officer candidates, students, and their families connected to Naval Station Newport throughout Aquidneck Island, including Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth, as well as Jamestown and the greater Providence area, and service members who have since transferred to installations elsewhere.
