James “Jim” Barkei

Assistant District Counsel, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Throughout his 24-year career in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Colonel (retired) Barkei has held various national security, military justice, and administrative law positions. His roles have included Professor at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS), Chief of Operational Law for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the International Security Assistance Force, Staff Judge Advocate for U.S. Army Alaska, and Chief Circuit Judge of the First Circuit in the U.S. Army Trial Judiciary. You can read more about him here.

Ziv Bohrer

Senior Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law & Senior Research Fellow, Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies

Dr. Ziv Bohrer is an expert in Public International Law, specializing in International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law. He has worked as a Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany, the Cambridge University Law Faculty, and Michigan University Law School. He has also been a Research Fellow at the Hebrew University - Sacher Institute for Legislative Research and Comparative Law and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Georgia Law School. Before entering academia, Ziv served in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Military Advocate General Corps. You can read more about him here.

Dru Brenner-Beck

Attorney, Of Counsel

Dru Brenner-Beck is an attorney in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. She began her career as a Military Intelligence officer in the U.S. Army and served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, holding roles such as Chief of Military and Civil Law for the Army in Europe and Deputy General Counsel for the Department of the Army Inspector General. After her military service, she clerked for The Honorable Carlos F. Lucero of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and has extensively written on international humanitarian law and military issues. Brenner-Beck led the Houston "Mutiny/Riot" Clemency Initiative, securing clemency for 110 African American soldiers convicted between 1917 and 1918. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh Law School. You can read more about her here.

Emiliano Buis

Chair of Public International Law, University of Buenos Aires (UBA) Law School

Dr. Emiliano Buis is a Professor at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) Law School and a Senior Researcher at the National Science and Technology Council in Argentina. His expertise includes international law, security, disarmament, and arms control. Dr. Buis has successfully managed interdisciplinary projects at various academic institutions in Argentina and abroad, as well as for NGOs focused on non-proliferation and disarmament verification. With over twenty years of experience, he has served as a consultant for numerous organizations and was recently awarded the Serge Lazareff Prize for his significant contributions to NATO’s legal services. You can read more about him here.

Gary Corn

Program Director, American University

Professor Gary Corn is the director of the Technology, Law & Security Program and an adjunct professor specializing in cyber and national security law. He is a recognized expert at the intersection of cyber and national security law and policy. Professor Corn joined TLS after a distinguished twenty-six-year career in the U.S. Army, where he practiced national security law at the highest levels within the Department of Defense. Throughout his military career, he held various roles at the brigade, division, and corps levels, serving as a military prosecutor, civil litigator, and operational law attorney. In his last five years in the Army, he was the Staff Judge Advocate for U.S. Cyber Command. You can read more about him here.

Emanuela-Chiara Gillard

Consulting Fellow, International Law Programme, Chatham House & Senior Visiting Fellow, Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict

Dr. Emanuela-Chiara has more than 20 years of experience in international law and humanitarian action, focusing on the interplay between sanctions, counterterrorism measures, and humanitarian operations. Her work also centers on specific aspects of protecting civilians in armed conflict, including the proportionality in the conduct of hostilities and the rules regulating humanitarian relief operations. She previously served as Chief of the Protection of Civilians Section in the Policy Development and Studies Branch of the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Prior to that, she worked as a legal adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross for seven years and at the United Nations Compensation Commission. You can read more about her here.

Oren Gross

Associate Dean and Irving Younger Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School

Professor Oren Gross is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Irving Younger Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he specializes in international and national security law. A former Fulbright Scholar, he has taught at Tel Aviv University and held visiting positions at institutions including Harvard, Princeton, and the Max Planck Institute, where he currently serves as a Senior Research Affiliate. He served in the Israeli Defense Forces’ Judge Advocate General’s Corps and was legal adviser during the 1998 negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Professor Gross has published widely in leading journals and co-authored Law in Times of Crisis: Emergency Powers in Theory and Practice, which received a Certificate of Merit from the American Society of International Law. You can read more about him here.

Chris Jenks

Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law & Senior Law of War Advisor, U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps

Chris Jenks is a professor at SMU Dedman School of Law and the U.S. Army JAG Corps’ Senior Law of War Advisor. A retired Army officer and Judge Advocate, he served in Kuwait, Bosnia, and Iraq and later served as the chief of the Army's international law branch. Professor Jenks has also held senior roles at the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense and has presented on autonomous weapons at the United Nations. He is a Senior Fellow at West Point’s Lieber Institute and a member of the American Law Institute. You can read more about him here.

Eric Talbot Jensen

Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law & Senior Law of War Advisor, U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps

Eric Talbot Jensen is the Robert Barker Professor of Law at BYU and a former Special Counsel to the Department of Defense General Counsel. A retired U.S. Army Judge Advocate, he served in roles including Chief of the Army’s International Law Branch and legal advisor in Macedonia and Bosnia. He is an expert in the law of armed conflict, national security law, and cyber operations, and was part of the expert group behind the Tallinn Manuals. He is a co-author of several texts on the laws of war and has published widely in leading U.S. and international law journals on international and national security law. You can read more about him here.

Dan Maurer

Associate Professor, Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law

Daniel Maurer is an Associate Professor at Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law. He teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure – Adjudication, and various national security law courses. Before joining Ohio Northern, Dan served for twenty-two years as an active-duty Army officer, first as a combat engineer and later as a judge advocate. He is an internationally recognized expert on various strands of national security law, including American civil-military relations, the constitutional separation of war powers, military justice theory and reform, and international humanitarian law (the Law of War). You can read more about him here.

Jeff Mustin

Entrepreneur & Strategist, CAS Laboratories, LLC

Jeff Mustin has served as an officer and fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force and as an Adjunct Professor at Texas Tech University School of Law. He served for over 5 years as a Policy Expert and Strategic Planner at Northrop Grumman, a leading global security company specializing in providing innovative systems, products, and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. You can read more about him here.

James (Jim) Schoettler, Jr.

Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center

James Schoettler has taught international humanitarian law at Georgetown University Law Center since 2006 and is co-author of two books offering military perspectives on the subject. He had a long career in both active and reserve duty with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, retiring at the rank of Colonel in 2013. In addition to his military service, he practiced commercial law for over three decades, specializing in international trade and contracts. He retired in 2024 as Deputy General Counsel of Centrus Energy Corp., where he led legal efforts on the landmark “Megatons to Megawatts” agreement with Russia, which eliminated 500 metric tons of nuclear weapons material. You can read more about him here.

Afonso Seixas-Nunes, S.J.

Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law

Afonso Seixas-Nunes is an assistant professor at Saint Louis University School of Law, where he teaches Public International Law and the Laws of Armed Conflict. A Jesuit priest and scholar, he holds degrees in law, philosophy, theology, and international law from institutions in Portugal, Italy, and the UK. His research focuses on artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon systems, with additional work at the intersection of space law and international humanitarian law. You can read more about him here.

Tyler Smotherman

Law Clerk, Honorable James "Wes" Hendrix, U.S. District Court, NDTX

Tyler Smotherman served as an Army National Guard officer (Military Police) for 10 years, during which time he held various positions, including platoon leader, company executive officer, acting commander, battalion staff officer, and brigade provost marshal. As the provost marshal, Tyler was the top law enforcement officer, advisor, and subject matter expert to a combat arms brigade commander with over 3,500 Soldiers. He oversaw several military investigations, legal actions, and courts-martial. You can read more about him here.

Ken Watkin

Ken Watkin served 33 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, including four years as Judge Advocate General. Following September 11, 2001, he provided operational law advice across military branches and advised on inquiries related to the Canadian Airborne Battlegroup in Somalia and the Rwandan genocide. In 2010, he served as a Foreign Observer on the Israeli Commission for the Gaza blockade incident and later held the Charles H. Stockton Professor role at the U.S. Naval War College. He has also consulted on counterterrorism for the UN and the Canadian government. His book, “Fighting at the Legal Boundaries: Controlling the Use of Force in Contemporary Conflict, won the 2017 Francis Lieber Prize, and he co-authored "The Law in War: A Concise Overview.” You can read more about him here.

Richard M. Whitaker

Director, Command Operations Review Board, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)

Richard (Rich) Whitaker has more than 40 years of experience as a legal and compliance advisor for the United States Department of Defense. Currently, he provides guidance and oversight for some of the nation's most sensitive operations and activities. Previously, he worked as the Staff Judge Advocate and served as a senior operational law observer-trainer at the U.S. Army’s Battle Command Training Program (BCTP), where he provided training on the law of armed conflict and interagency coordination to military commanders and their judge advocates. Rich was deployed to Iraq in 1990 and 2003, supporting Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, and spent almost two years in the country during these conflicts. You can read more about him here.

Callie Woolam

Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division

Callie Woolam served 8 years of active duty in the Army JAG Corps, primarily prosecuting domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault cases before becoming a federal prosecutor. She graduated from Texas State University in 2007 and South Texas College of Law – Houston in 2010. Callie currently serves as the Servicemembers and Veterans Initiatives Liaison for the Northern District of Texas.

Terri R. Zimmermann

Reserve Chief Defense Counsel, Marine Corps & Managing Member, Zimmermann & Zimmermann, PLLC

Colonel Terri R. Zimmermann advises the active-duty CDC and provides training and mentorship to all active-duty and Reserve defense counsel in the Marine Corps. In her civilian practice, Col. Zimmermann primarily focuses on criminal defense and military law at the trial and appellate levels in state, federal, and military courts nationwide. She is Board Certified in Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is certified as a Criminal Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. You can read more about her here.