Col (Ret.) Jane Ellen Paschall
Jane-Ellen Paschall has more than three decades of leadership in national security law, international humanitarian law, rule-of-law development, security sector reform, and international legal capacity building. She has worked with countries and institutions across Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, helping partners navigate challenges where law, diplomacy, and security intersect.
Prior to her current role, Ms. Paschall served as a USAID legal advisor in Washington, D.C., and Islamabad, Pakistan, providing counsel on statutory issues related to U.S. foreign assistance and partner governments. She also served in the Office of West African Affairs and the Middle East Bureau’s Genocide Recovery and Prevention Program, handling matters involving grants and contracts, the treatment of women, human trafficking, counterterrorism, anti-corruption, and governance.
A retired U.S. Army Judge Advocate, Ms. Paschall served as the Army’s senior legal advisor for national security law. She advised on the law of armed conflict, foreign criminal jurisdiction, detainee operations, intelligence, security assistance, and international strategic engagements, with deployments to conflict-affected environments around the world.
Ms. Paschall established U.S. Africa Command’s Legal Engagements Division and helped advance rule-of-law initiatives and security sector professionalization across the region. While deployed to Iraq, she advised the Iraqi High Tribunal on the prosecution of Saddam Hussein and former regime members for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Ms. Paschall also deployed multiple times to the Balkans to support peace operations, accountability for war crimes, and institutional reform.
Her experience gives her a practical understanding of how law, institutions, and security realities intersect. At Lexpat, she helps partners move forward with clarity when the stakes are high and the path is uncertain.
