Ernesto Gapasin

Ernesto Gapasin is a practicing military criminal defense lawyer. In 1996, he matriculated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. degree in History. That same year, he began attending the law school at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. In 1997, Gapasin served as a legal clerk intern for the Honorable Dean Whipple, Federal District Judge of the Western District of Missouri, in Kansas City. While serving as a clerk intern and attending law school, Gapasin assisted with numerous significant Federal cases that influenced law throughout the Eighth Circuit Court, and his work influenced outcomes for thousands of individuals throughout the Western District.

In 1998, Gapasin went on to gain experience working as a clerk for the Law Firm of Rawlings, Olson, Cannon, Gormley, and Desruisseaux in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1999, Gapasin graduated from the University of Missouri with a Juris Doctor of Law degree, and the partners of the Rawlings, Olson, Cannon, Gormley, and Desruisseaux hired him as an Associate. Gapasin was sworn in as a member of the State Bar of Nevada in 1999.

Later, Gapasin was hired as a Defense Counsel for military trials in Okinawa, Japan, and established and operated the first trial defense office on Okinawa, providing legal defense service for soldiers stationed in Japan and Korea. He then moved on to become Senior Defense Counsel at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and oversaw junior counsels and paralegals while they handled the litigation of hundreds of courts-martial and separation boards

While in the JAG Corps, Gapasin served in a number of legal positions focusing on military law and courts-martial defense. While deployed to Baghdad for a fifteen month period with the First Cavalry Division of Fort Hood, Texas, he served as an Operational Law Attorney advising commanders on the Rules of Engagement as well as Contract and Fiscal Law while in theater. Gapasin also served as a Prosecutor in the Air Cavalry Brigade, First Cavalry Division, and he served as a Part-Time Military Magistrate.

Gapasin has been honored a number of times for his military service, including receiving: the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star. More recently, Gapasin was inducted into the National Trial Lawyers Association’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers list for 2017.

Currently, Ernesto Gapasin is a partner and attorney at law at Gapasin, Capovilla & Williams, LLP.