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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 23, 2014 18 Comments
On the assumption that Hillary will be running, it's going to be interesting to see how liberals who attacked Hillary in 2008 will say, "that was then, this is now." One particularly nasty attack on Hillary was to accuse her of being a White Power advocate and using Klan talking points.   That line of attack, routinely and falsely used against Republicans, seemed to reflect Bill Clinton's complaint that the "race card" was played against Hillary. It came in response to this video in which Hillary opined on the significance of polling as reported by AP (h/t John Ekdahl) The attack appeared at the liberal website The Daily Banter from a liberal blogger who works for Media Matters but blogs both at Media Matters and independently. Hillary White Power Clinton Daily Bantor Oliver Willis 2008
Hillary White Power Clinton:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 23, 2014 15 Comments

Reader Tugboat Phil spotted this in a patient parking spot. Professor, I took my wife for a Doctor's appointment this afternoon and saw this gem in Patient Parking. We have a special breed of moonbat in this part of Virginia. This one seems a bit above and beyond...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 22, 2014 22 Comments
This is our third semi-annual fundraiser.  Parts One and Two have some background as to how we operate and why fundraising is a critical part of our revenue stream. (If on homepage, click "more" for details on purposes of fundraiser.) Donations are NOT TAX DEDUCTIBLE. (This post will be "sticky" for a while)

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 21, 2014 8 Comments

I had the pleasure of appearing tonight on The Mark Levin Show. We covered the anti-Israel boycott movement, and why it should matter to conservatives. Thanks to Mark for shining a spotlight on this issue. Thanks also to our friends at The Right Scoop for pulling the audio...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 21, 2014 24 Comments
Wendy Davis' campaign has had its problems. The revelation that her life story of personal struggle and triumph as a single mother was embellished was a game changer. Her campaign has had a communications problem as well, playing media favorites and putting Davis on stage with a shotgun in a Dukakis-in-tank moment. The video of Davis' supporters mocking Greg Abbott's disability was cringe-worthy. Her flip-flop then flop-flip on late term abortion alienated her base, as did her endorsement of open carry. All of this led the left-wing site Wonkette to issue a satirical appeal to readers, Let’s Help The Wendy Davis Campaign Stop Sucking So Hard. In that jest there is truth. Perhaps more important, Davis has not been able to expand her appeal to pro-abortion feminists to women in general, much less men. The polling showing she's losing the female vote has to be devastating news. Now there's the whiff of scandal, as reported by The Dallas Morning News, FBI probe of NTTA includes Wendy Davis file, Travis DA’s office says:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 20, 2014 22 Comments
With the rise of the internet, and blogs, and Twitter, and Facebook, more people are reading more things. Like Upworthy. But there's "reading" and there's "reading." Short-form reading is up, long-form reading is down. TLDNR. That's my sense of things. There probably is a study out there about it. Would someone do me a favor and summarize the findings in 140 characters, so I don't actually have to read it? You can send it to me at @leginsurrection. Here are ruminations from Yaacov Lozowick, Re-learning to Read:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 20, 2014 17 Comments
Via @MarkCuban: Some background, Patent Troll Says It Owns Podcasting; Sues Adam Carolla, HowStuffWorks:
We've written a few times about a patent trolling operation called Personal Audio. Like so many patent trolling companies, who's actually behind it is something of a mystery, but it does have an empty office in East Texas that no one ever goes to. It sued Apple and others claiming that it held patents on the concept of "playlists" and actually scored some victories. Amazingly, it sued Apple multiple times over the same patent, arguing that small changes to its products were new violations. Well, the company is back with a "new" patent, 8,112,504, called a "System for disseminating media content representing episodes in a serialized sequence" and appears to be claiming that podcasting itself violates the patent -- and has sued three podcasters, including Adam Carolla's "ACE Broadcasting," HowStuffWorks and Togi Entertainment.
Carolla's funding site is SAVE OUR PODCASTS LEGAL DEFENSE FUND:
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