Areas of Expertise

• Maritime Security and Law of the Sea
• Law of Armed Conflict
• Public International Law
• Irregular Warfare and Hybrid Threats

Academic Degrees

• Master of Laws, National Security Law, Georgetown University School of Law
• Juris Doctor, Saint Louis University School of Law
• Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, Stetson University

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kathryn Paradis joined the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in July 2024 as a military professor of international law with the College of International and Strategic Studies. She also serves on the Faculty Advisory Committee and is a member of the Artificial Intelligence Steering Committee.

Paradis is a lawyer with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. Prior to joining the Marshall Center, she completed an operational deployment as the legal advisor to the commander of Carrier Strike Group 2, embarked on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). In this role she advised on the law of armed conflict and the law of the sea during combat operations to protect merchant shipping from Houthi-launched attacks in the Red Sea.

Her earlier assignments include serving as a legal advisor to the commander of Task Force 74 in Yokosuka, Japan, and to the commander of Submarine Group 9 in Bangor, Washington, where she worked on counter-unmanned aerial system policy. She served twice in the Office of the Navy JAG in Washington, D.C., first as an administrative law attorney and government ethics counselor, and later as a strategic planner. She deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Paradis’s graduate paper on the applicability of the law of armed conflict to the weaponization of deep fakes was published in the Naval Law Review in 2022.

Paradis received a Bronze Star Medal for her meritorious service in direct support of maritime combat operations in the Red Sea. Other personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), and the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps Achievement Medal. She is also entitled to wear the Combat Action Ribbon, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Navy Unit Commendation, and Coast Guard Meritorious Team Commendation.