Nathan S. Lee
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Politics
New York University
J.D., NYU School of Law · Member, New York Bar
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Wilf Family Department of Politics at New York University. I hold a J.D. from NYU School of Law and a B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University.
My research explores questions in law and political science using empirical methods. Recent projects look at civil rights retrenchment through property law reforms using field experiments, and experimental jurisprudence work on how individual demographics influence understandings of the law.
Previously, I was a Fellow at the ACLU of Hawaiʻi, where I worked on issues including prison reform, immigration, and First Amendment litigation. I have also worked with the NYU Civil Rights Clinic, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law.
Research Interests
Law & Reparations
How legal frameworks can serve as tools for reparative justice, including work on cultural zoning and the broader potential of law as a mechanism for addressing historical injustice.
Property, Discrimination & Housing
The relationship between property law, discrimination, and housing policy, including research on anti-Asian discrimination in housing markets and the takings implications of antidiscrimination law.
Emerging Technology & Access to Justice
I study and build tools to explore how generative AI might equalize access to legal information for individuals. I also consider free speech issues as they relate to AI usage.
Publications & Working Papers
Adversarial or Cooperative: Randomizing Legal Strategy in Demand Letters to Municipal Governments
Your Money's No Good Here: Evaluating Anti-Asian Discrimination in Housing Markets Due to Alien Land Legislation
Law as Reparations
Bad Tenants: Public Trust and the Constitutional Duty to Closely Re-Examine U.S. Military Presence in Hawaiʻi
Data Sanctuary: Can Limiting Information Further Justice and Preserve Federalism?
Should Central Park Have Standing?
Antidiscrimination Laws Are Not Takings
Cultural Zoning as Reparations: Providing Power to Asian American Communities
Teaching
Teaching Assistant
Power and Politics, NYU — Fall 2025
Teaching Assistant
Democracy, Knowledge and Equality, NYU — Fall 2023
Teaching Assistant
Juvenile Justice, NYU — Fall 2022
Adjunct Professor (Instructor of Record)
Law and Society, NYU — Summer 2022
Selected Presentations
The Reparations Blackbox
Adversarial or Cooperative: Randomizing Legal Strategy in Demand Letters to Municipal Governments
Property Law as Colonial Forerunner
Data Sanctuaries: Rethinking Technological Progress to Preserve Federalism