Oates is also a visiting professor at the University of Witwatersrand School of Law in Johannesburg.
In 1980, Professor Oates joined the faculty at Seattle University School of Law until June 2021.
She designed and taught in the Legal Writing program at Seattle University School of Law, which has been ranked as the best or second best legal writing program in the United States by U.S. News & World Report in 14 or the last 15 years during her tenure there.
[3] During the last fifteen years, Oates has taught multiple courses and workshops on legal writing in Afghanistan, Botswana, China, Ethiopia, India, Liberia, South Africa, Uganda, and the United States.
In 2018, she helped design an online Legal Writing course, which is now being used in South African law schools.