Christopher L. Kannady
Christopher L. Kannady is an attorney at Foshee & Yaffe Attorneys at Law.
Mr. Kannady has had an extensive military career as a respected litigator in complex cases. He is known as an expert in complicated and sensitive military courts and holds a Top Secret/SCI security clearance. He currently serves as the State Staff Judge Advocate in the Air National Guard. He faithfully served as a United States Marine Corps Officer, fulfilling roles as both a military prosecutor and defense attorney, where he litigated high-profile cases. Additionally, he previously served as the Officer in Charge of one of the few Marine Corps extended legal assistance programs, handling a wide array of civil matters in state court proceedings.
Mr. Kannady deployed to Iraq with the Legal Service Support Team in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, prosecuting cases throughout Iraq for the Marine Corps, while also managing detainee operations. During his stateside service, Mr. Kannady served as a criminal defense lawyer for several years, litigating specialized cases involving homicide, rape, drug-related offenses, and multifaceted conspiracy cases. While on active duty, he maintained a remarkable 97 percent retention rate among the clients he represented. He also served as defense counsel in the Guantanamo Bay military commissions, which took him to operational environments in Afghanistan, Sudan, and Qatar for highly sensitive investigative missions. In these missions, he successfully balanced national security matters with diplomatic negotiations. He was instrumental in the release of one of his clients and negotiated one of the few pretrial agreements leading to the release of another. Mr. Kannady's success in these negotiations required balancing the interests of his client with the demands of several intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice, and the State Department.
Mr. Kannady graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Letters from the University of Oklahoma. He later completed both a Master of Business Administration and a Juris Doctor from the same institution. Additionally, Mr. Kannady holds a Master of Laws in National Security and Foreign Relations Law from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he practiced law and became a member of the bar. In November 2014, Mr. Kannady was elected to the Oklahoma State House of Representatives for District 91 in South Oklahoma City, where he serves as the Judiciary Chair. He was recently re-elected with 83% of the vote. His current rank in the Air National Guard is Colonel.
EDUCATION
LL.M. in National Security and Foreign Relations Law, George Washington University
J.D., University of Oklahoma
M.B.A., University of Oklahoma
B.A., University of Oklahoma
COURT ADMISSIONS
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Federal Court of Claims
D.C. District Court
Western District of Oklahoma
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals
Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
Army Court of Criminal Appeals
Oklahoma Supreme Court
D.C. Superior Court
West Virginia Supreme Court
PUBLICATIONS
Counter-Terrorism, International Law and Practice, ISBN: 978-0-19-960892-8, (2012): Chapter 27-“The ‘Push-Pull’ of the Law of War: The Rule of Law and e Military Commissions”
Military Law and the Law of War Review, 48/1-2, 165-210 (2009): “60 Days to Freedom-The Release and Repatriation of Mohammad Jawad”
American Indian Law Review, published at 29 Am. Indian L. Rev. 363 (2004-2005):
“The State, Cherokee Nation, and Same Sex Unions: In Re Marriage License of McKinley and Reynolds”
Oklahoma Journal of Law and Technology, published at 1 OKLA. J.L. & TECH. 9 (2004): “The Do Not Call List: Will It Survive?”
BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
Oklahoma
West Virginia