Domestic Violence and Military Families: Representation and the Dynamics

Lyndsay Lujan is currently a labor attorney for the Army Office of The Judge Advocate General. She also serves as the Federal Employment Director for the Military Spouse JD Network, a bar association for military spouses.

From August of 2017 to April of 2019, she was the program manager for the Army JAG Corps’ Military Spouse Attorney Hiring Program and one of the assistant chiefs for the Army Legal Career Program.

Prior to joining the Office of The Judge Advocate General, Lyndsay was a domestic violence prosecutor and served as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Albemarle County and the City of Chesapeake in Virginia.

Mr. Chura is the Chief of Client Services and Legal Assistance at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, an office providing free legal services and limited in court representation to a large community of Soldiers, family members and military retirees in support of the Army’s readiness and mission.

Since 2018, his Fort Leonard Wood office has developed an Expanded Legal Assistance Program which established community partnerships and training in response to domestic violence, and enabled in court representation of victims from Army families. In 2019, he received the first annual Judge Advocate General’s Award for Excellence in Legal Services. In 2020, he and his team initiated an educational outreach program focusing on Trauma Informed Leadership among Army senior leaders as well as trainees.

Major Chura is also a Judge Advocate in the US Army Reserve, currently serving as Staff Judge Advocate with 102nd Engineer Brigade, and has deployed three times in support of operations in the Middle East.

For most of the last decade, Brian Clubb has worked on the impact of mental health conditions and substance abuse on military servicemembers, veterans, and their families. From 2010 to 2012, he served as the first Veterans Treatment Court project director for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and its Justice for Vets division. He then managed a national domestic violence and sexual assault program for the Battered Women’s Justice Project. Most recently, he assisted veterans with upgrading less than honorable military discharges with The Veterans Pro Bono Consortium (TVC). Before working in the non-profit sector, he practiced criminal law – first as a deputy public defender in San Jose, CA and later in private practice. Brian is a retired Marine Corps officer having served over twenty years on active duty and in the reserves.

Dawn Du Verney is Hearing Operations Director for the Social Security Administration’s Office of Hearings Operations in Tupelo, Mississippi. Dawn professional background spans a diverse range of executive leadership and legal experience within corporate, academic, social service, faith-based, and government sectors. Prior to joining the Social Security Administration as an attorney in 2010, Dawn held titles, including gubernatorial-appointed Executive Director of the New Jersey Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, EEO/Ethics Officer for the New Jersey Department of State, Special Counsel to the New Jersey Secretary of State, Associate General Counsel for Handex Environmental, President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Trenton (NJ), Assistant Deputy Public Defender for the State of New Jersey, and Adjunct Professor for Temple University School of Law and Peirce College in Philadelphia.

Dawn earned a Bachelor of Science degree from The American University, a Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law, and a LL.M from Temple University Beasley School of Law. In addition, she has certifications and training in organizational development, executive leadership and management, including situational leadership, Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), group leadership intensive facilitation, the lawyer personality, systems thinking, and Japanese Learning Circles (quality).

Dawn’s guiding principle is “To whom much is given, much is expected; and to the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48). She values her legal training and gives back to legal profession through active membership in the American Bar Association. Her work has afforded her leadership positions in the Litigation Section, including Division Director, Communications Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, Committee Chair, and Managing Director. She is committed to expanding pro bono representation to all underserved persons. In this regard, she has served as ABA Presidential Appointee to the Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP) and the Standing Committee for Pro Bono and Public Service. For the latter, she chaired the Equal Justice Conference and the Pro Bono Publico Awards Committee and Awards Luncheon.

She is married to Steven Wilkins, who is the former Chief Learning Officer for the New Jersey Judiciary and an executive coach for private individuals and corporate clients. They have two adult sons, Ross Jordan and Drew Carrington.