I was a Professor of Law at St. Thomas University College of Law, where I founded and serve as Director of the Intellectual Property Certificate program and have also served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. I taught a wide variety of courses in that area, including Copyright, Trademark, Patent, Intellectual Property, and Cyberlaw. I write about these subjects as well as about reforms to legal education. You can find my academic writings on SSRN.
I was also a 1L professor many years, teaching Civil Procedure, and active in the world of procedure as well, writing Civ Pro lessons for CALI, serving as national Chair of the Section on Civil Procedure for the Association of American Law Schools. I also run this website, which has around 400 pages of Civ Pro study resources for JD and MBE students, along with a companion YouTube site with over 90 learning and review videos.
In an earlier life, I received my J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where I was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review. I also served as a federal law clerk to the Hon. D. Michael Fisher and Hon. Joseph F. Weis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and practiced IP law in the Intellectual Property and Copyright and Trademark practice groups at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP (now K&L Gates LLP).
For more detailed information about me, see my curriculum vitae.
Last updated: August 15, 2024.
As a researcher and writer, I like to try to think outside of the box, and my articles tend to synthesize topics as seemingly disparate as internet law, procedural justice, intellectual property, legal education, civil procedure, human rights, philosophy, and comedy improv. Some of my recent writings address topics such as:
- The insights that the Beatles can give us on teaching online during COVID
- What 18th century philosophers teach us about Cyberlaw
- Why Intellectual Property law is more about procedure than substance
My articles have appeared in respected journals such as Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, University of Pittsburgh Law Review, University of Louisville Law Review, St. Louis University Law Journal, Lewis & Clark Law Review, Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal, and others. I’ve twice won national awards for my writings, and in 2020, my article on informational procedure was selected by Thomson Reuters for republication as one of the best articles on intellectual property of the year. My most recent publication on cyberlaw was chosen by the book editors to be the opening chapter of a new book on Information Law.
My articles and other writings can also be found at SSRN and Bepress. A summary of my scholarship with abstracts can be found here.
Last updated: August 15, 2024.
In my 1L Civil Procedure course, I emphasize foundational 1L skills in the context of Civil Procedure, such as the skills of reading cases, briefing cases, reading rules and statutes, performing legal analysis, deconstructing multiple-choice questions, and writing essays in the IRAC format. The basic idea here is what I call “Skills in Context,” which relies on the proven educational technique that one learns a subject most effectively by learning the skills attendant to the that subject. Thus, Civ Pro doctrine and Civ Pro skills are not separate things: they are part of a cohesive whole, an insight that fuels my 1L teaching. In giving effect to this teaching approach, I use a variety of in-classroom and online tools, such as problem sets, explanations, review videos, instructional screencasts, online “Coggle” flowcharts, and more. This website includes over 400 pages of free online materials such as study resources for Civil Procedure, Internet Law, Copyright, and Trademark students. Many other of my online teaching materials can be found on my YouTube channel and on CALI.
My upper-level elective courses use or have used role-playing variants of the “Skills in Context” approach, which emphasizes the learning of IP law in the context of developing the lawyering skills attendant to subjects such as copyrights, trademarks, and patents. Thus, in many of my upper-level courses, I ask students to do realistic lawyering work in a simulated environment, such as preparing and protecting copyright, patent, and trademark registrations. Students role-play as lawyers in individualized scenarios that differ from student to student. I use comedy improv techniques to expand the scenarios throughout the semester, requiring students to think creatively and problem-solve practice matters ranging from IP doctrine, rights prosecution, legal ethics, enforcement, procedure, evidence, and even helping them to foster the crucial lawyering skills of cognitive and emotive empathy.
Last updated: August 15, 2024.
I’ve served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and the chair of a number of committees, including Curriculum. I’m also the long-standing Faculty Advisor to the St. Thomas IP and Cyberlaw Society. I’ve also served or chaired national committees for the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) and the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), including chairing the AALS Committee on Civil Procedure, a subject that I’ve taught for over 15 years.
Last updated: August 15, 2024.
Professor Nathenson
Email: professornathenson at gmail dot com
PS: This website does not constitute legal advice and I am not your lawyer. Please do not contact me seeking legal advice.
Last updated: August 15, 2024.