Faculty - University of Virginia School of Law

CONTACT
tnachbar@virginia.edu
(434) 924-7588
Room WB309

ASSISTANT
Valerie Listorti

SUBJECTS
Antitrust, communications regulation, copyright law, information technology

Thomas B. Nachbar

Professor of Law
Senior Fellow, Center for National Security Law
J.D., University of Chicago Law School, 1997
A.B., University of Illinois, 1989

After earning his undergraduate degree in history and economics, Tom Nachbar spent five years as a systems analyst, working for both Andersen Consulting and Hughes Space and Communications before entering law school, where he served on the University of Chicago Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. After graduation, he clerked for Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and later practiced with what is now Mayer Brown in Chicago as a member of the firm's appellate litigation, information technology, and intellectual property practice groups. Nachbar's previous research has addressed how the availability of new technologies alters conceptions of regulation; his current work is on the relationship between public and private regulation of markets. He is a co-author (with Glen Robinson) of the casebook Communications Regulation.

In addition to his work on regulation, Nachbar works extensively in the national security arena, focusing on detention law and policy and the role of legal institutions in counterinsurgency and stability operations. He is a judge advocate in the U.S. Army Reserve, where, among other assignments, he was a principal editor and contributor for the first three editions of The Rule of Law Handbook: A Practitioners’ Guide (from 2007-09). He is currently assigned to the Office of the Judge Advocate General, International and Operational Law Division. In addition to his military service, he is a civilian senior adviser for the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Rule of Law and Detainee Policy, and a senior fellow at the Center for National Security Law.

Publications

"The U.S. Military's Role in Rule of Law Development: From Intervention to Security Assistance," Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2013-12.
SSRN

"The Antitrust Constitution," 99 Iowa L. Rev. (forthcoming 2013)
SSRN

"Executive Branch Policy Meets International Law in the Evolution of the Domestic Law of Detention,” 54 Virginia J. Int’l L. (forthcoming 2013).
SSRN

"The Use of Law in Counterinsurgency," 213 Mil. L. Rev. 140 (2012).
SSRN

"Counterinsurgency, Legitimacy, and the Rule of Law," Parameters, Spring 2012, 27-38.
PDF

“Defining the Rule of Law Problem,” 12 Green Bag 2d 303 (2009).
SSRN

"The Public Network," 17 CommLaw Conspectus 67 (2008).
SSRN | HeinOnline (PDF)

Communications Regulation with Glen Robinson (West, 2008).
SSRN

“Alternatives to the Copyright Power: The Relationship of the Copyright Clause to the Commerce Clause and the Treaty Power” (panelist), 30 Colum. J.L. & Arts 287 (2007).

"The Comedy of the Market," 30 Colum. J.L. & Arts 453 (2007).
HeinOnline (PDF)

Rule of Law Handbook: A Practitioner's Guide for Judge Advocates (editor with Katherine Gorove) (Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School, 2008).

"Speech and Institutional Choice," 21 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol'y 67 (2006).
HeinOnline (PDF)

“Monopoly, Mercantilism, and the Politics of Regulation,” 91 Va. L. Rev. 1313 (2005).
SSRN | HeinOnline (PDF)

"Intellectual Property and Constitutional Norms," 104 Colum. L. Rev. 272 (2004).
SSRN | HeinOnline (PDF)

"Judicial Review and the Quest to Keep Copyright Pure," 2 J. Telecom. High Tech. L. 33 (2003).
SSRN | HeinOnline (PDF)

"Constructing Copyright's Mythology," 6 Green Bag 2d 37 (2002).
SSRN

"Paradox and Structure: Relying on Government Regulation to Preserve the Internet's Unregulated Character," 85 Minn. L. Rev. 215 (2000).
SSRN | HeinOnline (PDF)

Current Courses

All Courses

Antitrust
Communications Law
Constitutional Law
Contracts
Intellectual Property: Copyright
Regulation of New Media (seminar)
Seminar in Ethical Values

In the Media