MAJ Margaret (Mattie) Kotlik

MAJ Margaret (Mattie) Kotlik is a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army presently assigned as an assistant professor in the Department of Law and Philosophy at the United States Military Academy. 

She teaches Constitutional and Military Law (LW403) and Special Topics in the Law - Advocacy (LW490). She is the course director for LW490. She also serves as the military fellow for the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare and is a senior editor for the Lieber Institute's online publication "Articles of War." MAJ Kotlik is the coach and OIC for the department's annual Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law Competition at the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Prior to coming to West Point in summer 2022, MAJ Kotlik served as a Judge Advocate at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. There, she completed assignments as an Administrative Law attorney, Brigade Judge Advocate, Trial Counsel, and Chief of National Security Law. She deployed with the 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade to Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan. Prior to serving at Fort Bliss, MAJ Kotlik spent a year in Daegu, Korea, serving as a Special Victim’s Counsel and Operational Law Attorney for 8th Army. 

MAJ Kotlik was raised all over the world as an Air Force brat, but calls Texas home. She graduated from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, with a B.S. in sociology and a Juris Doctorate from the SMU Dedman School of Law. Her research interests focus on international humanitarian law.