Michael Mori Michael Dante Mori ( born 1965 ) is a lawyer who attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps . Mori was the military lawyer for Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks . Early life . Mori was born in Beverly , Massachusetts , October 4 , 1965 . He spent four years in the enlisted ranks , reporting for basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in December 1983 . He served as a repair and calibration technician of electronic test equipment as an enlisted Marine . After graduating in 1991 from Norwich University , a military college located in Northfield , Vermont , he became an officer in the Marine Corps . In 1994 he graduated from the Western New England College School of Law in Springfield , Massachusetts , before being admitted to the Bar in Massachusetts . Hicks case . Mori was appointed by the United States Department of Defense to represent David Hicks in November 2003 . He handled Hicks ' case through to its conclusion . He was featured on numerous occasions in the Australian media in relation to developments in Hicks ' case . Mori was one of the 2005 recipients of the American Civil Liberties Union ' s Roger N . Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award , which was presented " to the five military defense lawyers who represented the first round of defendants at the Guantánamo Bay tribunals and challenged the entire military commission system . " In August 2006 , Mori engaged in a lecture tour in Australia on behalf of David Hicks , where he charged the Bush Administration with creating an illegal military tribunal system that violated Hicks ' rights . Major Mori also attended a rally in Adelaide in support of Hicks and led a march to the office of Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer . On November 10 , 2006 , Mori attended the signing of the Fremantle Declaration by the attorneys - general of the states and territories of Australia . The federal attorney general , Philip Ruddock , refused to attend . The declaration urges judicial fairness be applied in Hicks ' case to protect the legal rights of Australians at home and abroad . Mori said " It ' s disheartening that federal ministers won ' t fight for an Australian citizen to have the same rights as an American . " Following Hicks ' departure from Guantanamo Bay to complete his sentence in Yatala Prison , South Australia - on or about May 20 , 2007 - Mori was re - assigned as a staff judge advocate , or legal adviser , to the commanders of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego . He has thrice been passed over for promotion since taking on the Hicks case . Mori was presented , in June 2007 , with an honorary membership of the Australian Bar Association for his defence of David Hicks . In October 2007 , he was awarded a civil justice award from the Australian Lawyers Alliance as " recognition by the legal profession of unsung heroes who , despite personal risk or sacrifice , have fought to preserve individual rights , human dignity or safety " . In June 2009 , he was promoted to a lieutenant colonel and made a senior military judge . In September 2010 , Mori took the Navy to court , alleging that his 2009 promotion was delayed due to bias by the selection board . In July 2012 , it was reported that Mori had moved to Melbourne to practice with the law firm Shine . Mori ' s retirement from the Marine Corps became effective in October 2012 .