Nathan is an adjunct lecturer in RULE’s English Language Based Bachelor of Law (ELBBL) program. He specializes in teaching legal method and the foundational legal skills of research, analysis, and writing.
Nathan also has a lot of experience with moot court. Most recently, he coached RULE’s team in the 2021 Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition to a top 6% ranking for combined memorials and top 30% overall, with one team member placing in the Top 100 Oralists and a second in the Top 500. Nathan has also judged Cambodian national rounds for the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot and International Humanitarian Law Moot competitions. And during his J.D. studies, he earned the “Best Respondent’s Brief” award in the 2013 National Veterans Law Moot Court Competition and also competed in the 2014 National Appellate Advocacy Competition.
Outside academia, Nathan practices U.S. immigration law. He has worked on cases from Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Venezuela, and the United States.
Nathan holds a J.D. from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School, an LL.M. in Global Health Law from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.Sc. (Pharm) from the University of British Columbia. He was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 2016.

Nathan J. Chan, He Loves Me . . . He Loves Me Not Anymore?! How the Bona Fides of a Marriage for an Approved Spousal Petition Can Depend on Whether the Burden of Proof in Revocation Proceedings Under INA § 205 Is on USCIS or the Petitioner, 2 AILA L. J. 191 (2020).

Nathan J. Chan, Forget Me Not: How EOIR’s Registration Requirement of U.S.-Originating Photo ID for Identification Verification Has a Disparate Exclusionary Impact on U.S.-Licensed Attorneys Who Do Not Have Any Other Connections to the U.S., Oct. 2018 Am. Immigr. Law. Ass’n AILA Insight 2.

Nathan J. Chan, A Shield Not a Sword: The Perverse Use of “Confidentiality of DOS Records Under INA 222(f)” to Withhold the Factual Basis for 221(g) Denials from Spousal I-130 Beneficiaries, May 2018 Am. Immigr. Law. Ass’n Bangkok District Chapter Newsl. 6.

Nathan J. Chan, Trolling on the High Road: Preserving Judicial Integrity in BitTorrent Pornographic Copyright-Infringement Cases, 1 Charlotte Intell. Prop. J. 1 (2014), available at http://media.wix.com/ugd/00c9cf_c373298ca6ab4dcbab610049a5f51b48.pdf.

Nathan J. Chan, “Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket” Revisited: How Exactly Does the Infertility Exception Apply to Embryo Disposition upon Divorce After Reber v. Reiss?, 20 W. Mich. U. Cooley J. Prac. & Clinical L., no. 1, 2018, at 49.

  1. Christopher Johnson Jr. & Nathan J. Chan,The ABA Model Principles: Not Only a Tool for Compliance, but also One to End Slavery and Child Labor in Supply Chains,June 2016 A.B.A. Bus. L. Today, available at https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/events/labor_law/am/2016/johnson_chan.pdf.

Course: Legal Methodology

Course Modalities: 

–Hourly Volume: 40 hours;

–Scheduled: April;

–Programs: International Executive Master in International Business Law (ULB), Year 1; International Master in Public International Law (Paris 8), Year 1. 

Course Overview: Students will learn standard legal concepts such as legal theory, statutory and case law analysis, and basic advocacy skills. The material will be introduced through lecture and discussion, and the students will be given examples that illustrate the concepts. This is a clinical oriented course. 

Course Structure: 

Module 1 – Overview of Basic Legal Concepts

  • Due for class:
    • Read:
      • Dernbach et al.: Rules and Policies p. 3-9
      • Dernbach et al.: Sources of Law p. 11-22
      • Dernbach et al.: Understanding Legal Rules p. 57-72

Module 2 – Legal Theory

Module 3 – Major Legal Systems; Legal Research Methods

  • Due for class:
    • Read:
      • A Quick Primer on the World’s Legal Systems
      • Explain Adversarial and Inquisitorial Trial Systems
      • Schultz & Sirico: Research Strategy p. 19-28

Module 4 – Statutes and Statutory Analysis (Lesson 1 of 2)

  • Due for class:
    • Read:
      • Scalia & Garner: A Dozen Canons of Statutory and Constitutional Text Construction
      • Schultz & Sirico: Statutory Analysis (statute only) p. 59-60
      • Dernbach et al.: Statutory Analysis p. 115-30

Module 5 – Statutes and Statutory Analysis (Lesson 2 of 2)

Module 6 – Midterm; Case Law and Analysis

  • Due for class:
    • Read:
      • Dernbach et al.: Common Law Analysis p. 99-113
      • Schultz & Sirico: Case Analysis p. 49-59
  • Midterm on the material from Classes 1 through 3

Module 7 – International Law and Procedure

  • Pre-class readings TBD

Module 8 – Types of Legal Reasoning; Public Policy Arguments

  • Due for class:
    • Read:
      • Inglehart: Learning to Craft the Five Main Types of Legal Arguments
      • Granberg: Legal Reasoning
      • McGinnis: How to Construct a Policy Argument

Module 9 – Basic Advocacy Skills

  • Pre-class readings TBD

Module 10 – Conclusion and Review

Module 11 – Final Exam

Assessment: 

Attendance: 10% 

In-Class Participation: 30%

Midterm: 20%

Final Exam: 40%