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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 August 26, 2019 11 Comments
We always have had a "Reply" function in the comment section on the desktop version of Legal Insurrection. Now we have it on the mobile version.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2019 15 Comments
Israel has attacked Iranian bases in Syria to preempt the launch of a squadron of bomb-loaded attack drones that were in the final preparations for launch. The planned drone attack was personally supervised by Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, according to the Israel Defense forces, which in an unusual move took to Twitter to announce the preemptive attack:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 23, 2019 11 Comments
Ninety years ago, in 1929, Arabs went on a murderous anti-Jewish rampage in the British Mandate for Palestine, ransacking ancient Jewish communities in Hebron and Safed (Tzefat). In the course of the week, a total of 130 Jews were dead.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 21, 2019 31 Comments
Rep. Rashida Tlaib gave a teary-eyed statement about her experiences at Israeli checkpoints. It's unclear of the time frame. First she said it was when she was a young child and visiting her grandmother, and then she mentioned her American mother going through a checkpoint, and her "then husband" being searched after a bus was stopped.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 18, 2019 35 Comments
Throughout her adult professional life, Elizabeth Warren has manipulated Native Americans. When Warren was in her mid-30s, and a law professor, she for the first time asserted that she was Native American. She didn't do it by joining Native American groups, by bringing lawsuits to help Native Americans, or by helping Native American students. Never in her life did she do any of those things.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 18, 2019 18 Comments
Every now and then Bill Maher hits a left-wing dogma squarely on the head and it's particularly persuasive coming from someone who is on the left. We've covered several such occasions, even if most of the time we disagree with Maher. Maher just did it again with regard to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, setting off a fury of recrimination from Rep. Rashida Tlaib and other anti-Israel activists.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 16, 2019 40 Comments
Yesterday, Israel denied visas for Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, after pressure from Trump, under a law permitting the government to bar entry to advocates of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The decision kicked off a firestorm, including false accusations by former Democrat Vice Presidential candidate and current Senator Tim Kaine that Israel had imposed a "Muslim ban".
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