Michael Waddington

Michael Stewart Waddington is one of the leading military defense lawyers in the United States and a co-founder of González & Waddington, a global court-martial defense firm based in Miami. A former Army JAG officer, he has spent more than two decades defending service members in high-stakes UCMJ trials, war-crimes investigations, and complex sexual-assault cases across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Space Force. He has handled cases in more than a dozen countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Germany, Italy, Japan, and throughout the United States. Waddington graduated from Duquesne University and earned his J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where he completed the intensive Integrated Trial Advocacy Program. After commissioning into the JAG Corps, he served as a trial defense counsel and later shifted to civilian practice, focusing exclusively on defending service members facing life-altering allegations. Known for taking on “unwinnable” cases, he has secured major victories in sexual-assault trials, homicide investigations, war-crimes cases and special-victim prosecutions involving digital forensics, DNA, and high-pressure battlefield environments. He is the bestselling author of The Art of Trial Warfare, Kick-Ass Closings, and the Pattern Cross-Examination book series, widely used by military and civilian defense lawyers. His work and cases have appeared in major media including CNN, 60 Minutes, Nightline, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Taxi to the Dark Side, The Kill Team, and BBC documentaries. He frequently lectures at national defense conferences on cross-examination, trial strategy and defending complex sexual-assault cases. Waddington is a Life Member of NACDL, a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, and an instructor for military-law and trial-advocacy programs. Clients choose him for his battlefield experience, strategic courtroom style, and commitment to giving service members the best.