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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.

Watching Dick pull and push his son Rick on the triathlon course was like being in the presence of greatness....

There is a pattern of high profile wrongful death case settlements being announced in close proximity to a criminal trial involving the death. It happened in the death of Trayvon Martin just a couple of months before the George Zimmerman trial, and in the death of Freddie Gray as pre-trial proceedings against police officers were starting. Both criminal cases ended in not guilty verdicts (Zimmerman, Baltimore Police).

We have been tracking the litigation against Harvard University alleging that affirmative action admissions policies are intended to and do discriminate primarily against Asian-American applicants, but also whites. A request has been filed for the Supreme Court to take the case after both the district and appeals courts ruled that while Harvard did discriminate, such discrimination was done lawfully.

Derek Chauvin goes on trial starting Monday, March 8, 2021, for the alleged murder of George Floyd. I say "alleged" because though the media and activists have already written the narrative of guilt, we know that criminal guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and media narratives do not always hold up in court.