FRCE legal team earns recognition from Department of Navy

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. – The Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) Office of General Counsel recently earned recognition from the Department of the Navy Office of General Counsel for its development of an innovative tracking system that helps focus legal efforts on high-priority mission requirements and improve outcomes for the command.

The FRCE team received the Field Office Achievement Award from the Department of the Navy Office of General Counsel May 13 during the organization’s annual training symposium. The biennial award recognizes a field office’s outstanding performance in providing mission-related legal services to a local command and its staff. In awarding the honor, evaluators consider the field office’s accomplishments and how they qualify as outstanding; any unusual factors that contribute to the work’s complexity; and how the work benefits the command.

“The efforts of our legal team are often behind the scenes but are nonetheless critical to the function of FRC East and our continued ability to support the nation’s warfighters,” said FRCE Commanding Officer Capt. Randy J. Berti. “I’m always proud of the work done by the team in our Office of General Counsel, and I’m very happy that their dedication and innovation are receiving much-deserved recognition from higher levels of command, as well.”

The new tracking system allows the FRCE counsel team to account for all legal actions and matters, generate detailed metrics across 16 areas of practice, and identify trends in the legal work performed by the team, then create data visualizations representing the metrics that have been collected. Together, these tools allow the team to demonstrate the critical role the depot’s Office of General Counsel plays in proactive legal risk management by quantifying the volume of advisories, reviews and consults performed as an in-house counsel.

FRCE Counsel Jennifer Toler described the proactive approach as a way to allow for optimization of FRCE’s resources and empower the command to focus on its mission of supporting warfighter readiness.

“The system enables data-driven decision making, improves resource allocation and enhances targeted training efforts to address recurring legal issues, and has proven successful in capturing the intangible nature of preventive legal work,” she explained. “The new system differs from traditional legal tracking systems by highlighting the proactive role the team plays in mitigating risk and addressing legal issues before they escalate.”

FRCE is North Carolina's largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 3,600 civilian, military and contract workers and an annual revenue of $865 million. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.

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