Thomas M. Rodrigues retired from active duty as a Colonel in 2019 after serving 23 years in the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Colonel Rodrigues’ experience with litigation and administrative processes is extensive. While in the military, Colonel served in multiple roles at Wing, Numbered Air Force, and Headquarters levels, including three assignments as a Staff Judge Advocate. In addition, Colonel Rodrigues served as the Air Force’s Chief Defense Counsel, responsible for the provision of zealous, ethical, and professional full-spectrum defense services for 330 thousand Air Force members world-wide. In this capacity, he supervised 192 attorneys and paralegals to defend 7 thousand adverse actions and 500+ felony courts-martial per year. Colonel Rodrigues completed multiple tours as a defense counsel representing and advising hundreds of clients ranging in rank from E-1 to O-10.

Immediately prior to his retirement, Colonel Rodrigues served as the Executive Officer and Director of Staff for The Judge Advocate General, located at the Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington VA. In this role, he served as the primary strategic and confidential counsel to top-AF JAG leadership on all aspects of the AF legal enterprise to include criminal, ethical, personnel matters, operational, budgetary, and asset allocation for the 1400 member global legal operation. He also served as a senior liaison for the JAG Corps with the Department of defense leadership, Congress, the media, and the public.

Mr. Rodrigues is a native of Arlington, Massachusetts. He completed a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and English at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 1989. Following his undergraduate studies, he worked as a writer and reporter for United Press International and was a public relations specialist with a large national labor union. Mr. Rodrigues attended Boston University School of Law where he was also editor of the American Journal of Law and Medicine. He was awarded his Juris Doctorate degree in 1996. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and is licensed to practice before the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Supreme Court of the United States, and all applicable State, Federal and military courts worldwide.

Military Experience

  • Colonel, U.S. Air Force JAG Corps, 1997 - 2019

Education

  • B.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1989
  • J.D., Boston University School of Law, 1996

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts

Court Admissions

  • United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
  • United States Court of Federal Claims
  • The United States Supreme Court