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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.

Interesting stuff: Good neutral article about the 10 factors which could sink Newt in Iowa.  One of them was "Fox News Talkers."  I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed.  Coulter was on Hannity, O'Reilly, and apparently Red Eye singing the same Newt's crazy tune. ...

The good news?  The Islamists did not do significantly better than in the first round of elections. The bad news? The Islamists did not do significantly worse than in the first round of elections. They're still running at about 70%: The Muslim Brotherhood party secured 39 percent of...

I guess I'm upsetting some people with my vigorous posts regarding Newt. Robert Stacy McCain says I've "hopped aboard the Gingrich bandwagon and [am] savagely lashing Newt’s critics."  Actually, the bandwagon jumped on me, because my endorsement predated Newt's surge, if only by a few days. John Sexton...

... Glenn Beck regains his sanity." That was the subject line in the e-mail from Linda attaching this photo taken outside the Sportsman's Grill in Franklin, TN: ...

The more Obama pushes class warfare, the more people reject class warfare.  That's certainly not what I expected. It's the counter-indicator effect.  If he's for it, the opposite will happen.  Perhaps he should announce an Unemployment Plan instead of a Jobs Plan. It's another one of those...

Take one Bibi a Day and you will feel better. The Prime Minister of the Jewish State doesn't seem to feel the need to stick to Happy Generic Holiday which happens to arrive in late December every year and is not the one invented in the 1960s. It's a...

As I pointed out the other day, National Review demeaned itself and its many talented writers by going overboard in its attempt to demonize Newt Gingrich, including a cover which should live in conservative infamy. Newt as crazy outer-space martian is what passes for analysis at...

The first snowfall in Ithaca so far this year. Gingrich poses an asymmetrical threat to Obama.  Isn't that how you fight an opponent which is better funded and better organized? All those commentators at The Washington Examiner who hate Newt because he was a "lobbyist" in reality if...

I'm just getting this feeling: A life of perpetual opposition....

I'm not going to argue with the owner of this car.  But I think the quote is: "I have a right to nothing which another has a right to take away." -- Thomas Jefferson to Uriah Forrest, 1787. Papers, 12:477. I could be wrong.  Did Jefferson use...

You know I have a big problem with Michele Bachmann making statements which are not supported by facts and then repeating them endlessly. Her campaign is up to much worse in South Carolina, where her local campaign manager has suggested that the Gingrich campaign has paid...

The government is not shutting down at midnight.  So here's some more stuff: Incandescent light bulb ban not banned, but not really going into effect. Rich Lowry, Applying while Asian.  Commenter LukeHandCool made a similar point on the Tip Line earlier this month. Newt has hired one of...

Michele Bachmann pretty much ended Tim Pawlenty's campaign. Bachman attacked Pawlenty relentlessly and took the Iowa straw poll, causing Pawlenty (foolishly, in hindsight) to withdraw.  In so doing, Bachmann eliminated the person who was the most viable not-Romney establishment candidate, a former Governor with a good, conservative record...