Thane practiced corporate law with Kiefer, Oshima, Chun, Fong & Chung in Honolulu, later accepting a position as Court Counsel to the Kosrae Supreme Court. (Kosrae, about 2,000 miles west-southwest of Hawaii, is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia.) He also served as Special Counsel to the Kosrae Constitutional Convention, held for two months in 1995. While in Micronesia, Thane taught two courses, Entrepreneurship and Financial Management, at the College of Micronesia. In addition, he wrote The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide, a law-practice manual for new attorneys.
Messinger holds an M.B.A. from Texas State University which was followed by a J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence) from the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as an editor for the Texas Law Review. Somewhere in the midst of these goings on, he studied at Mansfield College, Oxford University; at Tunghai University (in Taiwan); and at Harvard Law School (somewhere in the Nor’east).
Thane accepted the position as Director of Academic Affairs for the Central Massachusetts Campus of the University of Phoenix, where his tasks included training faculty for a new campus. In July of 2005 he accepted responsibility for Academic Affairs for all of the Massachusetts campuses, and in 2006 he led the Massachusetts campuses as Interim VP/Campus Director. In 2007, he earned a third graduate degree, in governance, from Harvard University.
Thane has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, the College of Micronesia, the University of Hawai‘i at West O‘ahu, the University of Phoenix (Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Online campuses), Park University, and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (for whom he conducted an executive MBA seminar in Hanoi). He is published widely in legal education.
Chapter 1: The Rule of Law
Chapter 2: You Done Wrong: Crimes and Torts
Chapter 3: Civilization! Property & Contract Law
Chapter 4: The Machinery: Making Commerce Work
Chapter 5: Dances With Law: Procedure and ADR
Chapter 6: How'd You Like to Work for Me? Agency & Employment Law
Chapter 7: What Does Business Look Like? Legal Forms
Chapter 8: We're from the Gu'mmit and We're Here to Help": Regulatory Law
Chapter 9: Ethics and the Rule of Law
Chapter 10: The Role of the Manager