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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 February 05, 2011 2 Comments

I have kept away from writing about "news" generated from WikiLeaks disclosure of stolen U.S. diplomatic cables.  One of the main problems with using stolen diplomatic cables is that one is unlikely to get the full story in a single cable, leaving the ground clear...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 05, 2011 9 Comments

Thanks to reader James for the link to this chart by Nate Silver, showing where Silver believes various potential Republian candidates fall on a sliding scale of insider/outsider and conservative/moderate:Sweet spot, or mushy middle?If it is any help, here's how Silver describes Pawlenty's position:Tim Pawlenty...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 05, 2011 6 Comments

David Cameron has generated a stir in Europe by giving a speech in which he said that state-sponsored multiculturalism has failed:Note that Cameron was not criticizing multi-racial or multi-ethnic societies; he was proclaiming the failure of policies which sought to segregate and separate groups in the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 05, 2011 12 Comments

Let's face it, he'd get the "hands off" treatment from this administration. Regime change seems to be United States policy only for our friends.Did Obama demand that Hugo Chavez transition to leave office when peaceful protesters were beaten in the streets of Caracas, or at any...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2011 6 Comments

I wish I had written such a post, but instead I happened upon it via an e-mail sent from a relative.  And it was at HuffPo, of all places.Rarely have I seen someone hit the hypocrisy of the anti-Israel movement the way David Suissa does in Israel's...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 03, 2011 7 Comments

I have posted about Juan Cole before, including this sadly humorous assertion that protesters chanting "death to America" really just wanted visas to visit Disneyland:Even the ones who are chanting "Death to America," if you get them to the side, they say well you know "could you...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 03, 2011 8 Comments

A column by James Taranto, 'Death Panels' Revisited (via Instapundit) points out:Obama ran for office on opposition to the individual mandate, then made it the centerpiece of his signature legislative initiative. Perhaps this should have been "lie of the year." At PolitiFact.com, it wasn't even a...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 03, 2011 12 Comments

Not long after starting this blog I received an e-mail from Mark Finkelstein, who writes for Newsbusters, and for a while, at his own blog, Finkelblog.Mark invited me on his long-running conservative talk show, The Right Angle, which had been on local Ithaca cable TV...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 02, 2011 13 Comments

As much as I would have liked to weigh in on a bunch of issues during the day, I've been fighting the snow and the snow hit (my) back.Now that I can sit up straight, here are some thoughts, as usual in no particular order:Egypt...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 02, 2011 20 Comments

Strike that:JobsDebt Service AbilityYour DoctorYour Private Health InsuranceYour HouseOffshore Oil DrillingCoal MiningFreedom to be left aloneIncentive to work harderYour Junk's PrivacyLebanonTurkeyEgypt South America Hope ChangeDid I miss anything?--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTubeVisit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 01, 2011 16 Comments

Everyone is all excited because some South Dakota legislators have proposed a mandate requiring each citizen to own a gun (h/t reader Brian):Five South Dakota lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require any adult 21 or older to buy a firearm “sufficient to provide for their...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 01, 2011 3 Comments

Thanks to readers Robin and Michael for the link :--------------------------------------------Related Posts:How Liberal Journalists Think Liberal Taxes ExplainedFeminism ExplainedMeet The Liberal Elite.Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTubeVisit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 01, 2011 4 Comments

Granted, it's not Tang or memory foam, but trillions of government debt did result in health advice no one else could have thought of:Government’s Dietary Advice: Eat Less This successful conclusion to FDA research actually was in doubt for decades:"While the recommendations may seem obvious, it is nonetheless considered major...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 31, 2011 12 Comments

According to Chuck Schumer, via Townhall (h/t @gpollowitz):So if these are the three branches of government, what do we call the 57 states?--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTubeVisit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 31, 2011 2 Comments

Not really.  Here's Jon Podhoretz's take on the recent troubles in Egypt, It's never been about Palestine:The anti-Mubarak revolution won't only topple an authoritarian regime. It will also topple 40-plus years of wrong-headed thinking about the causes of Middle East instability among the world's foreign-policy...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 31, 2011 0 Comments

From Gizmodo via HotAir, from the earliest days of the internets:-------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTubeVisit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!...

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