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Author: William A. Jacobson

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William A. Jacobson

William A. Jacobson is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell Law School.

He is a 1981 graduate of Hamilton College and a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School. At Harvard he was Senior Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and Director of Litigation for the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project.

Prior to joining the Cornell law faculty in 2007, Professor Jacobson had a highly successful civil litigation and arbitration practice in Providence, Rhode Island, concentrating in investment, employment, and business disputes in the securities industry, including many high profile cases reported in leading newspapers and magazines.

Professor Jacobson has argued cases in numerous federal and state courts, including the Courts of Appeal for the First, Fifth and Sixth Circuits, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Professor Jacobson has a national reputation as a leading practitioner in securities arbitration. He was Treasurer, and is a former member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, a professional organization of attorneys dedicated to protecting public investors. He frequently is quoted in national media on issues related to investment fraud and investor protection, and in the past has served as one of a small number of private practice attorneys who trained new arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Professor Jacobson is co-author of the Securities Arbitration Desk Reference (Thomson-Reuters), updated annually.

Professor Jacobson is frequently quoted in the media on political and legal topics, has authored many Op-Eds in major publications, and appears on television and radio to discuss politics and the law.

A more complete listing of Professor Jacobson's professional background is available at the Cornell Law School website. The views expressed here are his own and not those of any employer or organization,

The best way to reach Prof. Jacobson is by e-mail here.

A few related thoughts. First: https://twitter.com/jtLOL/status/387344493512372224 Second: Watch MSNBC all day long and keep in mind that, for the vast majority of the reporters covering politics in Washington, MSNBC is the Gospel Truth. Realize that the ambitious younger journalists in the White House press corps dream of the day...

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, as our readers know, is a vile combination of leftists and Islamists joined together by hatred of Israel who hide behind false and exaggerated claims regarding the "occupation," when the real goal is the destruction of Israel. The BDS...

Press conference now over. If you missed it, you missed one of the most demeaning, pejorative performances I've ever seen by any President. I say "one of" because it's possible there's a more snide performance I've forgotten. But today was memorable. Just more of the eliminationist rhetoric about ransoms and extortion and so on. And with one exception, all of the questions were completely soft-ball. Obama Presser analysis in one Tweet: https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/387644763920269312 Nile Gardner got the headline right (via Fuzzy):

President Obama throws a tantrum

  These were my feelings during the press conference as well: Updates in reverse chron: https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/387657718518935552

A group of 40 tourists peasants stormed Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida, as reported by First Coast News (h/t Amy): A group of tourists didn't let the government shutdown or the gate at the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine stop them Monday. A...

From J in Virginia: A hodge podge of lunatic-left imagery. ...

Laurel's list of inflammatory schoolyard taunts by senior Democratic politicians and their spokesmen reflected the increasingly eliminationist rhetoric which is part of Democratic shut-down scale-back strategy. Perhaps it's time for a new list: Mainstream Media Gone Wild, or something similar. I know that No. 1 on the...

I guess this goes in either the "there he goes again" or "chutzpah" files. Tropical Storm Karen is expected to make landfall later this week in the Gulf of Mexico.  FEMA started recalling workers several days ago to prepare for the storm, and in any event,...

It was, as usual, a busy weekend.  We covered a number of "Barrycade" events.  John Nolte at Breitbart.com has an even more extensive list of petty and unnecessary closures and lock-outs.. Here are some of the shut-down scale-back related items we covered, in case you missed...

After Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a funding bill for the National Institutes of Health, NBC Nightly News has run two feature stories about children and other patients who could not enroll in a cancer clinical trial at NIH because of the "shutdown." In neither story was the Republican funding bill or Democratic rejection of funding mentioned. The most recent feature story was last night. Those of you who read this blog, or pay even cursory attention to the news, know that House Republicans passed the NIH funding bill, over the objections of 170 Democrats who voted against it. House Vote NIH funding 10-2-13 Harry Reid then refused to agree to a consent motion in the Senate to approve the funding. Dana Bash at CNN even questioned Reid about it at a press conference, wondering why he won't just agree to the House funding bill since it might help a child. All of this took place against an Obama veto threat. Anyone who pays even a little attention knows that it is Democrats, and Democrats alone who have blocked funding for NIH child clinical trials. Yet in the entire segment on NBC tonight, not a word was mentioned about why there is no funding. All that is mentioned is a generic and presumably bi-partisan failure to reach an agreement. Here's the full video (full transcript here): NBC New Shutdown Blocks Girl From Clinical Trial

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Can't Keep Me Out Sign They've chained the parking lot at the Minute Man* National Park in Lexington-Concord, MA. A reader would not be stopped, and writes, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem about the "rude bridge":
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard 'round the world." Yes, that too is shut down... and, thanks to a comment left at eddriscoll.com, several of us were there today. We didn't bring a photographer, and it was raining, but we spent over an hour there, swapping stories and greeting the occasional tourists. You'll probably get other photos from some of the other people there. It was a special feeling, to stand on that 'rude bridge', imagining the Patriots gathering to stand against British regulars. The feeling was all the stronger, knowing that our own government -- we fought a war, which started right here, to establish that government! -- was telling us that we couldn't visit here because it was necessary to require us to pay a Federal healthcare tax... and was trying to deprive us of our guns besides. The memory of the British tea tax, and of the British attempts to deprive the colonists of guns, has never been stronger.
And sent along these photos: Minuteman Park chained parking lot

We wrote earlier today about the Vets on the Syracuse (NY) Honor Flight whose buses pushed through barricades at the Iwo Jima Memorial with the help of volunteers accompanying the group. This is part of an ongoing Battle of the Barrycades that has taken place also at the WWII and Vietnam War Memorials. The Syracuse Honor flight veterans of World War II and the Korean War returned tonight to Syracuse, where Michael Alan of Legal Insurrection was able to conduct several interviews. This World War II Veteran, who fought on several fronts including North Africa Southern France, Italy, and the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded twice, could not contain his joy at moving the barricades at the Iwo Jima Memorial (full interview at bottom of post):
"That blew my mind, my God look at that, it was great, a little initiative I guess."
The group received a hero's welcome home, here are several interviews: (added) Some photos: [caption id="attachment_67111" align="alignnone" width="484"]("We are so proud of you Grandpa" sign for Syracuse Honor Flight) ("We are so proud of you Grandpa" sign for Syracuse Honor Flight)[/caption]