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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 October 10, 2019 55 Comments
On August 13, 2019, we wrote about an extraordinary Amicus Brief filed by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on behalf of himself and several other Democrat Senators. The Brief was extraordinary because it threatened the Justices with a potential restructuring of the Court if the Justices didn't dismiss as "moot" the first big 2nd Amendment case the Court has taken in a decade. The Brief was panned by right, left, and center as a thinly-veiled and inappropriate threat.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 09, 2019 27 Comments
An important narrative in Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign is that she lost a teaching job early in her career because she was pregnant. Yet that narrative has been largely-debunked by Warren's own words in a 2007 interview, and through records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon and others.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 05, 2019 14 Comments
I don't have a fear of public speaking. I enjoy speaking in front of a crowd (and camera and microphone), even though I'm actually a fairly introverted person. I do fear showing up to speak and not having a crowd. So here's another reminder, I'm speaking in Houston on October 14 (with a separate LI Reader reception), Austin on October 15,  and D.C. on November 1.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 04, 2019 12 Comments
With Elizabeth Warren surging in the polls and becoming the darling of the liberal media, she was expected to have a blow-out Third Quarter fundraising haul. But it didn't happen. Warren raised $24.6 million according to an email blast from her campaign. That's a good showing, but behind Bernie's $25.3 haul. Considering Bernie's campaign is stuck in neutral, or even reverse, Warren's number are disappointing regardless of her campaign's spin.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 02, 2019 70 Comments
The "Whistleblower Complaint" regarding Trump's conversation with the Ukrainian President is a very suspect document in many respects. It does not read like a whistleblower complaint.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 01, 2019 25 Comments
Yesterday I wrote how Facebook takes down Elizabeth Warren Wiki page devoted to documenting her Cherokee and other controversies. The Facebook page went live in February 2013, at the same time that ElizabethWarrenWiki.org went live. The takedown was based on the plainly false claim that the Facebook page violated Facebook's "Impersonation" policy:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 28, 2019 66 Comments
A plain reading of the so-called Whistleblower Complaint supports the reporting by the New York Times and others that the complainant is in the intelligence community, likely the CIA. It's not so much a whistleblower complaint as a closing argument crafted by lawyers based on information the complainant never witnessed in order to create a pretext for impeachment, or at a minimum to damage Trump's 2020 prospects.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 24, 2019 48 Comments
There have been many strange motions and actions in the Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College case. A post-trial motion by Oberlin College to unseal Facebook records may be one of the more strange developments, and offers a window into the bitter feelings of college officials. Allyn D. Gibson (Allyn D.) is the grandson of plaintiff Allyn W. Gibson ("Allyn W.") and the son of plaintiff David Gibson. Allyn D., who was not a party in the lawsuit, was the store clerk on duty who caught an Oberlin College student shoplifting.
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