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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 November 30, 2010 5 Comments

In response to a " a dear friend who runs a large charitable foundation" and who branded the tea party movement "a group of racists, xenophobes and bigots," Rabbi Shmuley writes in The Jerusalem Post, Why the Tea Party resonates with human dignity:Lost in the debate...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 30, 2010 8 Comments

The New York Times had an Op-Ed yesterday complaining about anonymous trolls on blogs who post inflammatory messages to get a reaction:Trolling, defined as the act of posting inflammatory, derogatory or provocative messages in public forums, is a problem as old as the Internet itself, although its...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 30, 2010 16 Comments

There is a lot which could be said about Joe Scarborough's very personal and demeaning screed against Sarah Palin, but I'll rest on this response:"You are the Alan Colmes of MSNBC, and I mean no offense to Alan Colmes."On second thought, maybe I just insulted...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 30, 2010 6 Comments

Taken by reader Ben earlier this month in a Schnucks' parking lot in south St. Louis.I like Bobby Jindal, and a couple of years ago I thought this bumper sticker made sense.  Jindal has increased his national profile, but I'm not seeing a run for President in...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 29, 2010 17 Comments

...Curious as to when you think the count should start.Don't bother with January 20, 2009, too obvious and predictable, but if you must know, that would make it Day 679.For suggestions, include start date and event which started it (and number of days, if you...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 29, 2010 3 Comments

When Howard Kurtz was at WaPo, I wasn't a big fan.I took Kurtz to task for being As Deep Inside The Beltway As It Gets for his slobbering love note to Chuckie T., notwithstanding that Kurtz did blow the whistle -- after the game was over -- on the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 29, 2010 16 Comments

Nasty demand letters aren't working.  Tributes to "responsible, accountable, and open government" aren't working.How do we stop these Wikileaks folks short of dropping a house on their heads?Six ways to make people like youBecome genuinely interested in other people. Smile. Remember that a person's name...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 29, 2010 8 Comments

Fox News had an interesting article on Friday about the stuxnet malware, and how it was ingeniously constructed to disrupt the Iranian nuclear program:"In other words the worm was designed to allow the Iranian program to continue but never succeed, and never to know why."But that...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 28, 2010 62 Comments

The U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran on November 4, 1979, was the start of 444 days which came to define Jimmy Carter.  The U.S. government was revealed to be powerless and the President weak.  Those among us who were alive and conscious during those days have embedded...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 28, 2010 76 Comments

Charles Krauthammer has lambasted the mainstream (i.e. liberal) media for its obsession with Sarah Palin.That goes double for liberal entertainers and academics, and triple for the left-blogosphere, which is nuts-in-the-head (that's a precise medical term in Austrian) when it comes to Palin.But this obsession is not a...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 27, 2010 27 Comments

This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:  Cornel West is Professor of Religion and African American studies at Princeton University. West left Harvard University in 2002 amid controversy, with accusations of racism and inadequate scholarship...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 27, 2010 18 Comments

The Daily Caller (h/t Instapundit) has an interesting post today on the push back by Tea Party supporters against corporations -- particularly in the pharmaceutical industry -- which cooperated and cut deals with the Obama administration to help pass Obamacare.  The Washington Post had a...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 27, 2010 1 Comment

The Southern Poverty Law Center was a focus of my post earlier this week regarding SPLC's new "anti-gay" list and "hate group" list.An important blog post (h/t Instapundit) by someone who describes himself as a "veteran gay and aids human rights activist" takes SPLC to...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 26, 2010 10 Comments

Taken today by a reader in Ithaca, at the corner of Cayuga and State Streets, while stopped at a red light (please remember my caution about driving while photographing bumper stickers).Gentlemen, meet your worst nightmare:Not sure how to categorize this driver. Any suggestions?Update 4:55 p.m.: ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 26, 2010 8 Comments

The New York Times ran a trolling article yesterday titled G.O.P. and Tea Party Gains Are Mixed Blessing for Israel:When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel came to the United States recently for another round of tense talks with the Obama administration, he got a decidedly...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 26, 2010 16 Comments

I have written many times before about the risks of organizing a boycott, and I have detailed the many boycotts which have failed in the last two years.The "National Opt-Out Day" protest, in which air travelers were to opt out of the full body scan...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 25, 2010 23 Comments

I alluded earlier today, in passing, to the idiocy of the left-wing blogs and some mainstream media outlets in making a big deal out of Sarah Palin's obvious slip of the tongue -- corrected seconds later -- in referring to North Korea instead of South Korea. ...

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