BACKGROUND
Professor Tan served on the faculties of the University of Texas School of Law, the University of St. Thomas (MN) School of Law and as a founding professor of the first American JD program in Asia. He worked for major law firms in Chicago, the second largest law firm in Korea, as in-house counsel to SAM2 Technologies,LLC and at the American Medical Association Institute of Ethics. He has done work for the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), American Association of Neurosurgeons, and has done an array of additional work for others ranging from Fortune 500 companies to individuals. Tri-lingual in Spanish, Korean and English, Professor Tan has travelled to around 30 different countries. He is the leading legal scholar in the Western Hemisphere on North Korea. He has spoken at conferences, law schools and universities, etc. across the U.S. and in other countries (such as Greece), and has contributed to a number of media outlets, such as the United Press International (UPI). He is available for consulting, speaking and media engagements.
EXPERTISE
- International Law
- North Korea
- International Human Rights
- The Inter-American system of Human Rights
- Constitutional Law
- Bioethics
- Healthcare Law and Policy
- Jurisprudence
EDUCATION
With a National Merit Scholarship and credits transferred from Stanford University, Prof. Tan earned, with honors, his bachelor's from Wheaton College, an accelerated M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Wheaton Graduate School, and his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from Northwestern University School of Law, where he completed an International Law concentration.
TEACHING and SCHOLARSHIP
- Contracts
- Constitutional Law I & II
- International Law
- International Organizations
- Public International Law
- International Human Rights
- Jurisprudence
- Bioethics
My scholarship has focused on international human rights, international law, jurisprudence and bioethics.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Prof. Tan has been a member of the American Society of International Law and several professional associations. He has served in alumni leadership positions for his alma maters and is a lifetime member of the U.S. Tennis Association.
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
He has contributed portions of several books, and is writing a book on North Korea.
LAW REVIEW ARTICLES
- Redress for a Rotten Regime: Finding a Forum for North Korea (in process)
- A State of Rightlessness: the Egregious Case of North Korea, 80 Mississippi Law Journal 20 (forthcoming).
- The North Korean Nuclear Crisis: Past Failures and Present Solutions, 50 St. Louis U. L.J. 517 (2006).
- Advancing Civil Rights, the Next Generation: the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 and Beyond, 19 Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine 1 L. J. Med. 63 (2009).
- Upholding Human Rights in the Hemisphere: Casting Down Impunity Through the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 43 Tex. Int'l L.J. 243 (2008).
- Member State Compliance with the Judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 33 Int'l J. Legal Info. 319 (2005). (lead article). This journal is housed and peer-edited at Yale Law School.
- Jurisprudential Underpinnings of Law, Especially International Law: the Basis for True Progress & Reform, 2 Tenn. J. L. & Pol'y 9 (2005) (lead article).
