Colleen P. Graffy
Biography
Professor Colleen Graffy is an expert in international law, space law, and public diplomacy, bridging high-level diplomatic experience with cutting-edge legal scholarship. At Pepperdine Caruso Law School, she teaches core and advanced courses, including Public International Law, Space Law, and Criminal Law. She serves as the Faculty Advisor for the International Law Society and oversees the Certificate in International and Comparative Law, mentoring the next generation of global legal practitioners. Her contemporary research focuses on "legal frontiers," examining highly contentious or ungoverned spaces where traditional legal frameworks intersect with modern geopolitical shifts. Her major active projects explore hydro-politics and the weaponization of water, resource ownership in outer space, and maritime sovereignty disputes in the Arctic and Black Sea.
Prior to her current research focus, Professor Graffy served in the George W. Bush
Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy for Europe
and Eurasia at the U.S. State Department. In this capacity, she traveled to over 40
countries, working alongside U.S. Embassies and a Washington, D.C.-based team to communicate
U.S. foreign policy, culture, and values. A recognized global pioneer in strategic
communications, she was the first diplomat to utilize Twitter to communicate U.S.
foreign policy, effectively advancing "Public Diplomacy 2.0" and modern digital statecraft.
Her major initiatives at the State Department included conceiving and establishing
the U.S. government’s first regional media hub in Brussels, Belgium, and creating
the Ben Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship to bring together youth from former Eastern
Bloc nations, Western Europe, and the United States to study comparative constitutions
and democratic principles.
Before her government service, Professor Graffy spent over two decades in London,
where she played a foundational role as the architect and long-time Academic Director
of Pepperdine’s London Program. She has deep, enduring roots in the UK legal system
and transnational advocacy. After completing her Diploma in Law in London and attending
the Inns of Court School of Law, she was called to the Bar of England and Wales as
a Barrister of the Middle Temple. She was subsequently elected as a Bencher of the
Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, maintaining close ties with the English judiciary
and bar, and has served as Chair of the Society of English and American Lawyers (SEAL).
Professor Graffy is a prominent global commentator on transatlantic political, legal,
and security issues. She is a frequent guest on international media, including BBC
and BBC World Service, GB News, LBC & Times Radio and various podcasts. Her op-eds
and legal commentary have been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington
Post, The Hill, and London’s The Times and The Telegraph. Beyond her academic duties,
she lends her strategic expertise to several boards and institutes, serving on the
Board of Directors for Independence Avenue Media in Washington, D.C., the Advisory
Board for the USC Center for Public Diplomacy, and the 2026–2027 Honors Committee
for the American Society of International Law (ASIL).
Education
- LL.M., King's College, with merit
- Diploma in Law, City University & Inns of Court School of Law
- M.A., Boston University
- B.A., Pepperdine University
Topics
- International Law