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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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 26, 2021 26 Comments
Both Kenosha, Wisconsin, prosecutors and an outside police use of force independent expert hired by the city found that the police shooting of Jacob Blake by Officer Rusten Shesky was a justifiable use of police force in the circumstance where, among other things, Blake was holding a knife and turned towards Shesky in a sweeping and threatening manner.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 25, 2021 32 Comments
Parler was made a scapegoat for the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill Riot. As we have explored many times, the attempt to blame Parler was in bad faith and contradicted by the Department of Justice's own criminal charging documents which focused much more heavily on organizing activity on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 23, 2021 64 Comments
Masterpiece Cake Shop famously won a U.S. Supreme Court case over it's owner Jack Phillips' refusal to bake a cake that celebrated a same-sex marriage. Phillips said while he would sell anyone a cake, requiring him to put lettering on it celebrating the marriage violated his religious beliefs and was unconstitutional.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 17, 2021 15 Comments

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

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 14, 2021 44 Comments
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).

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 12, 2021 26 Comments
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.
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