Thankful to be Back

Thankful to be Back

Following his second tour of duty in Iraq, Clearwater attorney Charles E. Lykes Jr. is more prepared this time to resume his practice.

By David R. Corder

Associate Editor

On April 1 Charles E. Lykes Jr. had a rare opportunity. Just a few months earlier, the Clearwater attorney and U.S. Army Reserve colonel had shipped out to Iraq to serve a tour of duty with the 350th Civil Affairs Command. There he helped with the establishment of the transitional government. He supervised a governance team and its liaison officers to the Iraqi ministries of justice, labor, human rights and the interior.

So it was business as usual that spring day eight months ago when Lykes decided to accompany a liaison officer on a briefing in El Hillah, an Iraqi city about 90 minutes south of Baghdad. The trip offered him a rare opportunity. El Hillah is the site of some ancient Babylonian ruins.

The day started off well, says Lykes, who recently returned from Iraq. The military briefing with civilian authorities went well. And the team of seven soldiers packed into the two Suburbans to visit the ruins.

Around 2:45 p.m., Lykes says, the convoy left the ruins en route to Baghdad. It wasnit long, though, before he heard a pop. He thought a tire blew out. Then came a second and a third pop. It was small-arms fire. The convoy had run into an ambush.

The driver of Lykesi vehicle took evasive action while members of the team leaned out of the windows to return the fire. Lykes vehicle careened off the highway, across the median and stopped upright amid a swirl of dust in the oncoming lane.

iAll I knew then was the shooting had stopped,i he recalls. Perhaps, to the surprise of all, no one suffered serious injuries. They quickly headed north to the nearest military checkpoint.

At the checkpoint, Lykes says, the reality of the situation became apparent. The insurgents had hit one of the vehicleis gas tanks. One shot traveled through a rear quarter panel and just missed a tire.

The team of officers came to one conclusion, Lykes says. It was apparent to them the insurgents wanted captives. Just the day before, four private American contractors had died in Falluja. They were captured, mutilated, beheaded and then hanged from a bridge.

iThey were so close it was apparent they didnit want to just shoot us,i Lykes says about the ambush. iThey were shooting low.i

Thatis one of the most harrowing experiences for Lykes, who also served a tour of duty during Operation Desert Storm, the first U.S. incursion into Iraq. Since 1972, Lykes has maintained his commission in the Army Reserves. On earning a law degree in 1979 from Franklin Pierce Law College in New Hampshire, Lykes became a member of the Army Judge Advocate Generalis Corps (JAG). Five years later, he established a solo practice in Clearwater.

Lykes has focused in the areas of real estate, criminal and patent, trademark and copyright law. Unlike his first tour of duty in Iraq, Lykes says he doesnit face the challenges he encountered then. His practiced suffered during that tour of duty in the early 1990s.

iThe first time it was kind of hard,i he says. iThis time Iim a little better prepared.i

This time around Lykes had built a network of colleagues through his participation with the Clearwater Bar Association. They came to his aid when he shipped out last December for Iraq.

iIill do much better this time,i says Lykes, who returned Nov. 15. iA lawyeris practice is going to thrive if you work hard and take care of your clients. Iim a sole proprietor so itis simple for me. I have good friends, a network of people, who Iive worked with for years.i

Although he relinquished his criminal cases, because of speedy trial issues, Lykes expects quickly to resume most of his civil practice.

iWhen I come back, I get those cases back,i he says. iThereis only a few of those so I expect to pick up where I left off.i

As far as Lykeis intellectual property practice, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted him some waivers.

iAll my patent people stayed with me,i he says. iThe patent office extended some deadlines for me.i