Nicholas Monck

Nicholas Monck is a lieutenant in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps and currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Military Law at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In this role, he teaches constitutional law, military justice, and operational law. Over the course of his naval career, he has served as a Staff Judge Advocate, Defense Counsel, and Legal Assistance Attorney, advising commanders and representing servicemembers across a wide range of legal and operational contexts.

LT Monck currently chairs the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Armed Forces Law and the ABA Young Lawyers Division’s Government, Military, and Public Sector Lawyers Committee. He also serves on the ABA Young Lawyers Division Resolution Committee and has been an active member of the Colorado Bar Association’s Military & Veterans Affairs Executive Council since 2021.

Commissioned in August 2019, LT Monck’s first assignment was with the Regional Legal Service Office in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. There, he served as a Legal Assistance Attorney, advising servicemembers on family law, probate, landlord–tenant disputes, and small claims matters. While stationed in Hawaii, he was temporarily assigned to U.S. Pacific Fleet to assist with the USS Bonhomme Richard fire investigation. He later served as a Defense Counsel, representing sailors and Marines throughout the Indo-Pacific in a broad spectrum of administrative and criminal proceedings. During the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility water contamination crisis, LT Monck stood over 100 hours of watch in the Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam Emergency Operations Center and was selected as Naval Legal Service Command Junior Officer of the Quarter in fall 2021 for his work assisting affected military families.

From 2022 to 2024, LT Monck served as the Staff Judge Advocate for Submarine Squadron FIFTEEN in Guam, the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed submarine squadron. In that capacity, he advised the squadron staff, five homeported fast-attack nuclear submarines, and multiple shore commands on a wide array of legal issues. He also served as a Squadron Duty Officer, overseeing squadron operations during 24-hour watches, including submarine movements, diving operations, and medical evacuations of submariners at sea.

In May 2023, LT Monck was appointed Staff Judge Advocate for Task Force West, the Department of Defense’s unified response to Super Typhoon Mawar, and was selected to serve on the Joint Region Marianas Crisis Action Team. In these roles, he advised senior joint leadership, including the Theater Joint Force Land Component Commander and the Defense Coordinating Element–West, on matters involving disaster response, support to the Government of Guam, unmanned aircraft operations, environmental law, contracts, and tort claims.

LT Monck earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2013, where he was a two-time Big Ten Conference Champion in Lincoln–Douglas debate. He received a Master of Science in Communication from Northwestern University in 2014, graduating at the top of his class. In 2019, he earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado Law School, where he also completed the Graduate Renewable Energy Certificate and the Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resources Law and Policy Certificate. While in law school, he served as President of the Student Bar Association, competed on the national mock trial team, and was published in the Colorado Law Review Forum. He was named the University of Colorado Graduate Student Leader of the Year in 2019.

Following law school, LT Monck worked as a Staff Adjudicator with the Colorado Department of Human Services Office of Appeals, issuing 91 final agency decisions in administrative appeals.

From 2021 to 2025, LT Monck served on the ABA Young Lawyers Division Disaster Legal Services team, coordinating legal assistance for survivors of major disasters, including Super Typhoon Mawar, Hurricanes and severe storms in the Midwest, and wildfires in New Mexico. He was recognized as an ABA Young Lawyers Division Star of the Quarter in 2024 for his contributions to disaster response and public sector legal service.

In 2025, LT Monck was recognized by the ABA YLD as an “On the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyer.”

LT Monck has also served as a member of the Oahu Search and Rescue Team and as Head Coach of the Guam High School Mock Trial Team. He is a certified Wilderness First Responder and has participated in wilderness rescue and recovery operations in Alaska, Arizona, and Hawaii. He has experience as a Scouting America adult leader, most recently serving as a skipper for Sea Scout Ship 25 in Washington, D.C.

Outside of his professional work, LT Monck enjoys skiing, climbing, and whitewater rafting. He has completed the Chicago, Washington, D.C., Detroit, and Denver marathons, as well as multiple triathlons.