Mary Rose Hughes was quoted in "New Legal Center Gives Military Sexual Assault Survivors A Voice And Hope" an article in Forbes regarding the perspective of civilian lawyers in military sexual assault cases and how it can be a benefit to those involved. 

“The intensely personal nature of the crime and the fact that frequently there is not a lot of extrinsic evidence make these cases particularly challenging,” Mary Rose said. “You have a lot of issues related to what the victim reports and how their reports are taken within the system. Some of it is just getting the attention of the right people and moving it through the system so that the victim and the accused can feel justice was done.”

The military adds yet another layer of complexity. “The military has its own culture,” Mary Rose said. “It’s a completely different world in many respects.”

Though, she said it’s not so different that civilian litigators should feel intimidated about taking on cases. In fact, civilian representation may benefit survivors in ways their military representation cannot. (Some survivors are entitled to a military lawyer and some are not for varying reasons.)

“We’re unencumbered by not being in the military,” Mary Rose said. “I don’t really care about an evaluation as a JAG [justice advocate general, or a military lawyer] officer might. I’m a civilian and doing the best I can all the way through the process.”