David W. Nance was born 1966 in El Paso, Texas, and speaks fluent English, German, Spanish as well as conversational Polish and French. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in German and Spanish (with additional studies in French, Sociology, and Astronomy) from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. He earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in civil and common law from Loyola University School of Law, New Orleans in 1996, including a semester of law studies in German at the University of Vienna School of Law.