Image 01 Image 03

Author: William A. Jacobson

Profile photo

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.

Recall elections are being held today against six Republican State Senators.  I feel like I've covered Wisconsin so much this year, today is somewhat anti-climactic.  But it's not, it is very important. Unions need to win back three seats to take control of the majority in...

Why are they rioting in England, they have free health care?...

So what else is new.  Obama's campaign plans to destroy Mitt Romney, according to Politico, by playing class warfare and portraying Romney as phony and not genuine: Barack  Obama’s aides and advisers are preparing to center the president’s  re-election campaign on a ferocious personal assault on...

1959 was a very, very good year.  More so than you know.  Unless you were Cuban. Very, very good years are not always what they seem. Thanks to reader Jim who took this photo in Bradenton, Florida, of a bumper sticker which says "Cuba got 'Change' in...

Today's hashtag is #downgrade. There were may good tweets to choose from, but I picked this winner: ...

Today is the 10th anniversary of the first blog post at Instapundit. The first week of Instaposts are here. While we frequently wish bloggers happy blogoversaries, Instapundit really deserves thanks.  It's hard to imagine where the conservative blogosphere would be without Instalanches, and the support of Prof. Glenn...

You probably have no idea what I'm talking about. Victory Day, formerly known as VJ Day, formerly known as Victory Over Japan Day, no longer is celebrated anywhere in the U.S. except in my home State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.  It is celebrated the second...

Nothing interesting to write about this morning.  At least nothing that hasn't been beaten half to death already. Suggestions?  Thoughts?  Comments?  Anybody out there?...

You bought into it, so you own it. Thanks to Bruce from Where Are My Keys who sent along this photo he took recently in Denver: ...

Matt Lewis at The Daily Caller argues that taking a compromise deal allowed Republicans to avoid blame for the S&P downgrade (although David Axelrod and John Kerry are claiming otherwise) and any other negative consequences: In the few days since the debt ceiling was raised, the Dow has...

Soon after the raid in which Obama got bin Laden took place, as Obama was in the midst of his not-spiking-the-football victory lap, I asked readers to predict when Hollywood would roll out a major motion picture about the raid in order to help Obama's...

Thanks to reader and blogger Voting Female for alerting me to the new hashtag #ObamaDownGradeExcuse. Considering how much fun readers had with #BeforeBlackPresidents, there should be some good tweets and comments coming. Here's my contribution: ...

Yesterday I reported how the Dean of Widener Law School, Linda Ammons, had sentenced conservative law professor Lawrence Connell to a psychiatric evaluation and "anger management" therapy: Professor Connell will comply with all conditions and recommendations issued by the psychiatrist/psychologist, including, without limitation, appropriate counseling and...

Graeme Zielinski, Communications Director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, is quite a guy.  He was a focus of a post here last month when he tweeted that people should celebrate the 45th anniversay of Medicare by "punching a Republican."  He then claimed he was just joking. But...

... the owner of this vehicle. Saw this in the parking lot of a local supermarket in Rhode Island:   Update: One LI reader took the post title as an insult, believing that I was referring to Texans and the car owner as idiots (which is how the...