JAA Leadership

Kathleen A. Duignan, Esq.

After completing law school, Ms. Duignan served on active duty as a judge advocate in the United States Coast Guard for four years, where she mainly practiced in the area of military justice, serving as both defense counsel and prosecutor at courts-martial. She left active duty to clerk for Chief Judge Walter T. Cox III at the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. Ms. Duignan also has experience in non-profit management, homeland security consulting, and command center management - the latter experience gained post-9-11, when she was recalled to active duty and served as the Chief, Operations Division at the Coast Guard Command Center located at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C. Presently, she serves as the first Executive Director of the National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ), an independent non-profit organization that was established in 1991 to foster understanding, scholarship, and civilian education about military justice. NIMJ recently affiliated with the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, DC.

Ms. Duignan has also held various leadership positions in the Federal Bar Association and is a former president of the D.C. Chapter. She continues her military service as a Commander in the United States Coast Guard Reserve and is presently assigned to the J5 - Policy and Planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) at the Pentagon.

She is a native of Uniondale, NY, where she attended the public schools. Ms. Duignan accepted an academic scholarship to attend the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, FL, where she earned a B.A. in both Politics & Public Affairs and French. She earned a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1991, where she was a member of the Moot Court Honor Society and also graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD in 2002 with a Masters in Business Administration.

JAA Position:  Director