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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 April 20, 2020 9 Comments
The last time we checked in on the dysfunctional Israel elections, it looked like Bibi Netanyahu's Likud Party had won a sweeping election -- the third in a year -- which would allow it to put together a right-wing coalition government. BUT WAIT, then the exit polls were off and the actual results still had Likud in the lead, but without the ability to put together a ruling coalition. A majority of Knesset members said they would back Blue-and-White challenger for Prime Minister Benny Gantz, leading Israel's President to give Gantz the 'mandate' to form a government....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 19, 2020 42 Comments
Attorney General William Barr has signaled that the federal government will take action with regard to violations of the constitutional rights of citizens by state and local officials as part of Wuhan coronavirus 'stay at home' and shutdown orders. Barr was addressing particularly violations of religious freedom.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 18, 2020 52 Comments
Joe Biden doesn't have what it takes to take on Trump. He's become a sad figure as he struggles to complete sentences, keep track of his thoughts, and find words. He never should have been pushed to run for president. I covered the unfortunate series of Biden brain freezes recently in Being off center stage has helped Biden, who struggles even in friendly interviews.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2020 25 Comments
While a lot of pundit claim that the Wuhan coronavirus crisis has damaged Joe Biden's campaign by pushing him off center stage, in fact being off center stage is the best things that's happened to Biden's campaign. Biden obviously had 'cognitive decline' issues -- that's not a medical diagnosis, but an observation any honest person watching him in action the past few months recognizes. He repteadedly loses track of what he is saying, has trouble finding words, and appears to read from notes in what should be spontaneous interviews.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2020 53 Comments
The Payroll Protection Program is out of money. The SBA has stopped taking applications. Hundreds of thousands of applications that already have been submitted cannot be funded. Tens of millions of people are out of work without the backstop of businesses getting help retaining staff. And it's all because Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have taken the nation hostage in order to extort $250 billion in unrelated additional spending.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2020 35 Comments
So this has been Elizabeth Warren's endgame since it became clear several months ago that she would not win the Democratic presidential nomination. Warren stayed in the race long enough to siphon off enough support for Bernie on Super Tuesday to hand Biden the nomination. Bernie supporters called her a snake. The snake emoji became the symbol of Berner fury at Warren.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2020 53 Comments
The $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program is about to run out of funding, after Senate Democrats blocked a proposed $250 funding increase unless Republicans agreed to unrelated Democrat funding requests. We covered the Senate Democrat action, fully supported by House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, last week, Democrats block expansion of Paycheck Protection Plan, demand more unrelated spending:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 14, 2020 20 Comments
Some local and state governments have tried to ban religious services, including drive-in Easter services, even though conducted in accordance with CDC 'social distancing' guidelines. It's government power grabs for the sake of power grabs. We highlighted this past weekend how a federal judge barred Kentucky from such anti-religious action, Federal Court Prohibits Louisville Mayor from Banning Easter Sunday Drive-in Church Service:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 13, 2020 34 Comments
The Chinese government has a vast and sophisticated disinformation campaign to cover-up its complicity in the spread of the coronavirus that started in Wuhan, China, and now is a worldwide pandemic devastating lives and economies. As previously discussed, a key component of that disinformation campaign is to control the words used to describe the virus, If you claim that calling it ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ is racist, you are part of the cover-up:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 12, 2020 32 Comments
The NY Times is in full election mode. On the one hand, the Times is devoting enormous resources toward blaming Trump for the Wuhan coronavirus damage, as if Trump declaring a national lockdown in February, as the impeachment trial was coming to a close, would have been feasible politically or justified based on what was known at the time.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 11, 2020 46 Comments
In one of the least surprising, yet most important, developments in the years-long Russia-collusion hoax, a recently declassified portion of the DOJ Inspector General's Report on the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign has revealed that Trump was the target of a Russian disinformation campaign. And the FBI knew it. So rather than colluding with the Russians, which the Mueller Report conclusively rejected, Trump was the victim of a Russian disinformation campaign exploited and promoted by Democrats, the media, and the FBI.
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