Legal advisors in the armed forces: Military lawyers in the israel defense forces as mediators, interpreters, and arbiters of meaning during operations

This article deals with lawyers in the Israeli military in the context of military operations. Based on an organizational analysis of military lawyers' hybrid roles, it argues that (1) military legal advisors belong to two professional communities that are highly partisan; (2) they fulfill a variety of roles that include mediation between the professions, the interpretation of military law, and the final arbitration of operational decisions; and (3) they represent the only hybrid military role that deals with the core of military expertise: the organized management and deployment of violence.