In this episode, NAWL Board Member, Chair of the NAWL Women in Military and Government Service Affinity Group, and Retired Lieutenant Colonel, Mary Card Mina, speaks with Sean Watts, a Professor in the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy at West Point. This episode is part one of a series of three episodes offered in response to current world events and international conflicts and informs on applicable laws in these conflicts for listeners who wish to learn about this highly specialized area of the law and to better understand the conflicts taking place in our world from a legal perspective.
In this episode, NAWL Board Member, Chair of the NAWL Women in Military and Government Service Affinity Group, and Retired Lieutenant Colonel, Mary Card Mina, speaks with Sean Watts, a Professor in the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy at West Point. This episode is part one of a series of three episodes offered in response to current world events and international conflicts and informs on applicable laws in these conflicts for listeners who wish to learn about this highly specialized area of the law and to better understand the conflicts taking place in our world from a legal perspective.
Sean Watts is a Professor in the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy at West Point where he co-directs the Lieber Institute for the Law of Land Warfare. He serves as co-editor-in-chief of the law of war blog Articles of War.
He serves as a Senior Fellow with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia. He is a Visiting Professor at the School of Law, University of Reading, United Kingdom. From 2010-2016 Professor Watts participated in drafting both volumes of The Tallinn Manual on International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare. From 2009-2011 he served as a defense team member in Gotovina et al. at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia. In December 2017, he testified as an expert in the law of war at the Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Prior to teaching, Professor Watts served as an active-duty U.S. Army officer for fifteen years in legal and operational assignments as a military lawyer and as an Armor officer in a tank battalion. He later served in Army Reserve billets at the Army JAG School, West Point, and U.S. Strategic Command.
Watts holds an LL.M. from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School, a J.D. from the College of William & Mary School of Law, and a B.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He earned his commission as an Army R.O.T.C. distinguished military graduate
Mary Card Mina is the Supervisory Senior Financial Disclosure Counsel, at the Office of General Counsel, Ethics Division, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Before this position, Mary served on active duty for more than 22 years in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. She served as Assistant Legal Advisor, Department of Defense, Office of Military Commissions, and as the Staff Judge Advocate for Aberdeen Proving Ground. She served as the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as the Chief of Judge Advocate Recruiting at the United States Army Legal Services Agency, and as an Executive Officer for the Assistant Judge Advocate General for Law and Military Operations. Her deployments include serving as the Command Judge Advocate for Task Force Falcon, with duty at Camp Monteith, Kosovo, and as a Brigade Judge Advocate for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, with duty at Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq. Mary also served with the 1st Armored Division in Germany and at Camp Humphreys, Korea. Her areas of practice include government ethics, administrative law, military justice, and the law of armed conflict.
Mary holds a Master of Military Arts and Sciences from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; an L.L.M in Military Law from The Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army; a Juris Doctor from the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America; and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a minor in philosophy, from The Catholic University of America. Mary has served as an adjunct faculty member with the University of Maryland and with the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University.
She is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Court of Appeals for the United States Armed Forces, and the Court of Federal Claims, and is licensed to practice in the State of Connecticut. Mary’s awards include an HHS Office of General Counsel Leadership Award, a Legion of Merit and Bronze Star from the Army JAGC, and a Presidential Volunteer Service Award. Mary is currently serving as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Catholic University of America Alumni Association as well as on the Board of the National Association of Women Lawyers.