LTG Joseph B. Berger III, USA (Ret.)

Executive Director

Joseph B. Berger III is the executive director of the American Inns of Court in Alexandria, Virginia. Before assuming his current position, Berger served for 33 years in the U.S. Army, 27 of which were in Judge Advocate General’s Corps—the Army’s lawyers. He retired as a lieutenant general—a three-star—after serving as The 42nd Judge Advocate General (TJAG) of the Army, the Army’s senior-most legal advisor and leader of the 10,000 strong Judge Advocate General’s Corps. As TJAG, he advised the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff on the full spectrum of legal issues. He previously served as the Deputy Judge Advocate General, Commander of the U.S. Army Legal Services Agency and Chief Judge of the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals, and Commander of The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, overseeing hundreds of education and training programs, including the Department of Defense’s only ABA-approved LLM program.

Key legal leadership positions held include serving as the senior legal advisor to the Army Cyber Command, the Joint Special Operations Command, and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. He also represented the Army to Congress as a legislative liaison. He served in “in house counsel” roles covering national security law, administrative law, and environmental law for various Army elements and he served as the chief prosecutor for one of the Army’s largest jurisdictions.

Prior to becoming a judge advocate, he served as a platoon leader, during which time he deployed to Somalia in 1993, taking part in the Battle of Mogadishu. As a lawyer, he deployed to Kosovo in 2000, helping to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 and the Kumanovo Agreement. He deployed multiple times each to Iraq and Afghanistan as the legal advisor to joint special operations task forces and spent an additional year in Iraq working to reestablish the Iraqi judiciary.

Berger graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the George Mason University School of Law. He has an L.L.M. in Military Law from The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, and a Masters in National Security Studies from the National War College. He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States of America, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Maryland.

Berger has published on multiple topics, including leadership, national security law, and criminal law. He is a contributing author to multiple books and has been the subject of numerous podcasts.
He and his wife have two adult children and beyond the law and leadership, he loves sailing.