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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 May 13, 2014 8 Comments

TaxProf has released the rankings of blogs run by law professors, for the 12 months ending March 31, 2014. Go to Law Prof Blog Traffic Rankings for the full list, including percentage changes from the prior year.  The Top 15 are in the featured image. Plus College Insurrection comes in...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 12, 2014 42 Comments
We have focused for years on the White Privilege industrial complex, in which hundreds of people make a living promoting, sustaining and preaching "white privilege" as an overarching perspective on American society: Now a new website, Progressives Today, has exposed just how bad it is. The White Privilege conference in Madison, WI, was videotaped and will be rolled out (including on the Kelly File tonight):
These people are not like the civil rights activists of the 1950s and 60s. In those days activists criticized America because the benefits of democracy, personal liberty and free enterprise did not extend to minorities, particularly black Americans. They fought for inclusion into the great American system, so that all citizens could have a shot at the American dream. But today’s White Privilege crowd – largely elitist college professors and K-12 teachers – reject the idea of making the American system work for everyone. Their goal is to trash the system altogether, specifically targeting free enterprise, individualism, Christianity and free speech. Their goal is to remake America with some form of collectivist economy, and presumably some form of totalitarian government that could impose and maintain such a system. They’re pursuing that goal by enlisting thousands of teachers from across the nation to push their ideas on naïve K-12 students.
This is the same progressive push of which Microaggression Mania and Check Your Privilege speech control is a part. It is the complete racialization of education. We will update with video from the Kelly File as soon as available. UPDATE: Kelly File video via Gateway Pundit:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 12, 2014 27 Comments
Today is the day the obsession with diversity counting comes home to roost at liberal websites. Bring out the bag of popcorn. The NY Times Public Editor bemoans that only about one-third of the reporters are women, Still Talking About It: ‘Where Are the Women?’
“We’re acutely aware,” [Janet Elder, deputy managing editor] said. “It’s a problem here and it’s an industry-wide problem.” At The Times, she said, about a third of the roughly 400 reporters are women.
We have that beat easily. Look at the 12 regular contributors (including me) in the sidebar -- fully half are women. Legal Insurrection contributors May 12 2014 BREAKING - LEGAL INSURRECTION LOOKS MORE LIKE AMERICA'S GENDERS THAN THE NY TIMES. Bring out the large bucket of popcorn. The ever-liberal The American Prospect notes that liberal publications are very, very white, The Unbearable Whiteness of Liberal Media:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 11, 2014 34 Comments
On May 5, 2014, I gave a lecture at Vassar College against the academic boycott of Israel. Originally I had challenged the 39 professors who signed a letter defending the academic boycott of Israel to debate, but none accepted the challenge. During the Q&A, I learned for the first time from student organizer Luka Ladan that one of the professors had called for a boycott of my lecture. The full video is here. The two anti-Israel speakers I referenced were Max Blumenthal and Ali Abunimah, who appeared in an event sponsored by several academic departments, the week before. Those same academic departments were asked to sponsor my appearance, but none did. I had not made a big deal about it, although it troubled me that a professor would call for a boycott of a lecture simply because of a difference of opinion. When I saw a Wall Street Journal column posted late this afternoon, I remembered that statement about boycotting me. Ruth Wisse, professor at Harvard, writes, The Closing of the Collegiate Mind:
There was a time when people looking for intellectual debate turned away from politics to the university. Political backrooms bred slogans and bagmen; universities fostered educated discussion. But when students in the 1960s began occupying university property like the thugs of regimes America was fighting abroad, the venues gradually reversed. Open debate is now protected only in the polity: In universities, muggers prevail....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 09, 2014 15 Comments
Hey, remember Journo-list? The Ezra Klein organized brigade of lefty bloggers and "journalists" who coordinated messaging in the 2008 campaign for Obama. Many of whom later were rewarded with perks such as meetings at the White House? They have received promotions, and now are embedded in the mainstream and well-funded new media. But Journo-lists don't change their spots (or is it stripes?). They are bigger than ever, are more numerous, and still are running interference for Obama, as detailed at National Journal by James Oliphant, Progressive Bloggers Are Doing the White House's Job:
When Jay Carney was grilled at length by Jonathan Karl of ABC News over an email outlining administration talking points in the wake of the 2012 Benghazi attack, it was not, by the reckoning of many observers, the White House press secretary's finest hour. Carney was alternately defensive and dismissive, arguably fueling a bonfire he was trying to tamp down. But Carney needn't have worried. He had plenty of backup. He had The New Republic's Brian Beutler dismissing Benghazi as "nonsense." He had Slate's David Weigel, along with The Washington Post's Plum Line blog, debunking any claim that the new email was a "smoking gun." Media Matters for America labeled Benghazi a "hoax." Salon wrote that the GOP had a "demented Benghazi disease." Daily Kos featured the headline: "Here's Why the GOP Is Fired Up About Benghazi—and Here's Why They're Wrong." The Huffington Post offered "Three Reasons Why Reviving Benghazi Is Stupid—for the GOP."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 09, 2014 36 Comments
Complaints about privilege are growing tiresome. It's the shallow call of those who can't win an argument on the merits. It's a cop-out. It's an epidemic on campuses, and in the "white privilege" industrial complex where careers and incomes depend on getting universities and donors to pony up big $$$ to support conferences and academic slots. We saw it last night on Twitter as an anti-Israel divestment resolution at UC-Davis ended in a tie, which meant it did not pass: Ramesh Ponnuru writes about this phenomenon at Bloomberg, 'Check Your Privilege' Means 'Shut Your Mouth':

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 09, 2014 39 Comments
In (speaks for itself) I presented the video of Emily Lett promoting her abortion. The video is embedded again at the bottom of this post. I used this screen cap to reflect what I saw as the flippant attitude. http://youtu.be/OxPUKV-WlKw But there was another aspect I thought about but didn't write about. It's reflected in the featured image. And it is captured by Elizabeth Scalia at The Anchoress, sent to me by reader Mike:
If you let yourself become distracted by what is coming from her mouth, you miss all that is revealed in her face, which tells the whole, and very different story. A month after the abortion — with the dramatic change in hairstyle that so many women effect when emotions are high and they need to feel in control of something — watch Emily, then. The light is gone from her eyes. The seeming disconnect between pc-fed head and instinctive heart is laid out in breathtaking and stark incongruity, even down to the shadows, the blue note, the lack of energy. Devastating. Cognizant of it or not, she is a mother in grief.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 08, 2014 15 Comments
In a post last night on the continuing legal saga of the Wisconsin anti-conervative "John Doe" probe, we noted that Appeals Ct stays injunction against Wisconsin “John Doe” anti-conservative probe
Last night we noted Fed District Court enjoins Wisconsin “John Doe” anti-conservative investigation. Late this afternoon the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit issued a stay of the injunction, on procedural grounds which leave the District Court the opportunity to reinstate the injunction. The issue for the appeal was that a “Notice of Appeal” of certain court rulings had been filed prior to the injunction being issued.  Once a Notice of Appeal is filed, it moves the case automatically to the Court of Appeals and the District Court no longer has jurisdiction, unless certain exceptions are met. So the Court of Appeal basically said the District Court Judge didn’t have the case before him anymore, and couldn’t issue the injunction.
That key exception would be if the District Court found the appeal to be frivolous. It just did, and reinstated the injunction in an Order issued today, which reads in part (full embed at bottom of post):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 08, 2014 22 Comments
Soon after the defeat of anti-Israel divestment resolutions at U. Michigan and UCLA, I began to see anti-Israel advocates single out pro-Israel students who had gone on trips to Israel sponsored by pro-Israel groups, or had received advocacy training from pro-Israel groups. These trips and advocacy training are critical because some campuses have become openly hostile to pro-Israel students as a result of "direct action" and other intimidation by relatively small but highly coordinated anti-Israel groups like Students for Justice in Palestine. Professors actively participate in demonizing pro-Israel students.     So I was not completely surprised when I learned from reader emails over the past several days that there is an attempt at UCLA to disqualify any student who received pro-Israel training or trips from being on the Student Council. Because of my trip to Vassar and follow up, I didn't have time to write it up. So I'm glad that two others have done so. Jonathan Tobin at Commentary writes, The Next Step in the Campus War on Jews:
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