Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen (Katie) M. Potter serves as an Assistant Professor of Law at the United States Air Force Academy.  She teaches and is the Deputy Course Director of Law for Air Force Officers, a required course for all 4,400 cadets.

Lt Col Potter received a direct commission as an Air Force Judge Advocate and entered active duty in August 2010.  Before coming to teach at the Air Force Academy, she represented clients and conducted capital litigation in the 9/11 Military Commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  She has deployed to a Combined Air Operations Center, where she served as a Legal Advisor, and following a General LL.M. with a concentration in Labor and Employment Law, she worked as a Branch Chief in the Administrative Litigation Branch – West, and as a Deputy in the Labor Relations Branch in the Personnel and Information Law Division at Joint Base Andrews.

She previously served as an Executive Officer, Chief Commissioner and Honors Law Clerk at the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, and she was an Area Defense Counsel, Victims’ Counsel, and Special Assistant United States Attorney (SAUSA).

Before entering the military, Lt Col Potter served as an AmeriCorps/Jesuit Volunteer in Atlanta, Georgia, and she worked as an Academic Program Manager and Instructor for Central Texas College Europe in Naples, Italy.

Lt Col Potter is admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of Colorado, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the Military Commissions, and the United States Supreme Court.

Air Command and Staff College, by correspondence (2022)

Master of Laws (LL.M), with high honors, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (2019)

Squadron Officer School, in residence, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama (2013)

Juris Doctor, Chancellor Scholar, University of Denver Sturm College of Law (2007)

Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and English with a minor in Social and Political Thought, cum laude, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (2002)

Assistant Professor, Department of Law, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado (June 2024 − Present)

Chief Team Military Defense Counsel and Air Force Element Deputy, Military Commissions Defense Organization, Arlington, Virginia (July 2022 – June 2024)

Chief, Administrative Litigation Branch – West, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland (June 2020 – July 2022 with a deployment at the end)

Legal Advisor to the Combat Operations Division, Combined Air Operations Center, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar (January to May 2022)

Deputy Chief, Labor Relations Law Branch, Labor Law Field Support Center, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland (May 2019 – June 2020)

Master of Laws (LL.M.) Student, The George Washington University Law   School, Washington, DC (August 2018 – May 2019)

Honors Law Clerk, Chief Commissioner, Acting Clerk of Court, and Executive Officer to the Chief Judge, United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland (July 2016 – August 2018)

Area Defense Counsel, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado (March 2015 – July 2016)

Special Victims’ Counsel, Chief of Military Justice, Chief of Civil Law, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California (August 2012 – March 2015)

Chief of General Law, Special Assistant United States Attorney, Chief of Adverse Actions, Chief of Military Justice, 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, California (October 2010 – August 2012)

Defense Meritorious Service Medal

Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters

Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters

National Security Law and Policy

The intersection of Criminal Law and the State Secrets Privilege at the Military Commissions

Law of War, Constitutional Law, and International Humanitarian Law

Military Justice Law and Policy

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Artificial Intelligence

Discrimination and Employment Law

Cultivating Moral Courage