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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 September 14, 2013 3 Comments

What we have here is a failure to understand. They don't understand what they're doing wrong: Only 16% of the 420K students in the CA State University system graduate within 4 years Catholic college hosts sex workshop featuring “c**t” coloring book DOE and DOJ threaten free speech by stalling...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 14, 2013 5 Comments

From Bill: Obviously confused Full of "poop" and voting for Obama does make sense tho. From St Pete, FL. ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 13, 2013 8 Comments

Other than some prescheduled posts, see you tomorrow night or Sunday. Mandy and others will cover tomorrow. https://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/378621062483030018 https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/378655646620868609...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 13, 2013 51 Comments

Andrew Branca and I gave a lecture on September 12, 2013, at Cornell Law School in an event sponsored by the Cornell 2nd Amendment Club. The topic was the George Zimmerman shooting of Trayvon Martin and subsequent trial. My segment starts at 2:45 and Andrew Branca's at...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 13, 2013 134 Comments

Andrew Branca and I gave our presentation yesterday at Cornell Law School on the Zimmerman case, and the reasons why the jury reached the correct verdict. I'm hopeful the video will be available to post soon. One of the things I talked about was the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 13, 2013 23 Comments

Now Bashar Assad is showing the price for him to declare his chemical weapons and talk about -- just words -- maybe, possibly, removing them to somewhere, somehow, some time in the future. https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/378509356183986176 That price is guaranteeing his regime stays in power and the rebels are...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 13, 2013 14 Comments

From Brooks: Saw this truck in a parking lot outside my doctor's office in Bedford, TX. It took a moment to realize that the "Prius Repellent" sign on the truck was situated over the truck's muffler. Have a good one. ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 12, 2013 7 Comments

From Catherine, yesterday: Greetings again from northern Idaho!  I'm sending you here a picture of the back of a truck that I took a few weeks ago in a parking lot in Sandpoint, Idaho.  If you ever get the chance, this area of the country is...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 11, 2013 39 Comments

I'll have to defer to pollsters as to whether this is consistent with professional polling protocol. PPP has admitted that it deliberately did not release a poll showing that Colorado State Senator Angela Giron was likely to lose the recall election by a wide margin: We did...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 11, 2013 27 Comments
Something very curious has happened on the heels of the discussions between the U.S. and Russia regarding Syria "giving up" chemical weapons. Russia almost immediately began shipping large quantities of additional conventional weapons to Syria to bolster the regime, as reported by Israeli television (via Times of Israel):
Russia is stepping up weapons supplies to Syria’s President Bashar Assad, to help him prevail in the civil war, as part of the arrangements under which the Assad regime has agreed in principle to have its chemical weapons stockpiles placed under international supervision, Israel television reported on Tuesday night. Negotiations between Russia and Syria on the supervision arrangement, which seem to have drastically reduced the likelihood of US-led military intervention in Syria, have been ongoing for two full weeks, and have also involved Iran, the Israeli Channel 2 report said. Russian President Vladimir Putin, determined to ensure that his ally Assad not face a punitive US-led strike following Damascus’s alleged use of chemical weapons in an August 21 attack that the US says killed over 1,400 Syrians, essentially ordered Assad to submit to international oversight of his chemical weapons stocks, the report said. In return, Putin promised bolstered conventional weapons shipments, “some of which are already on their way” to Syria from the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
While certainly Russia has been shipping weapons previously, this would indicate a more intensified effort. At the same time, the Obama administration seems to be backing away from the rebels. The next time John Kerry testifies before Congress -- or holds a press conference -- he should be pressed as to any undisclosed understandings. Even if Assad doesn't use chemical weapons again, he has a long history of large-scale massacres without chemical weapons:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 10, 2013 27 Comments
The two recall races in Colorado have not received a lot of attention in the national media, but they sure will tomorrow. One of the Democratic State Senators, Senate President John Morse, whose district included part of Colorado Springs, has conceded the race: https://twitter.com/denverpost/status/377637779728891904 The Denver Post reports:
Colorado Senate President John Morse thanked and urged fellow lawmakers to continue fighting Tuesday as voters ousted him from office for his support for stricter Colorado gun laws. "It has been an honor to represent the 11th Senate District," said Morse, who is the first Colorado lawmaker to be recalled and thrown out of office. "It's been hugely rewarding." With about 86 percent of returns counted in the historic recall election of Democratic Senate President John Morse show 52 percent have voted "yes" and 48 percent "no." Morse called the legislative session where he and Democratic colleagues passed stricter new gun laws a successful one.
The second State Senator is trailing as of this writing, although the results are not final yet (update -- now final - recall succeeded): https://twitter.com/denverpost/status/377652263944474624 Someone we all know and love, and who is from Colorado Springs, is happy: https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/377635323754188800 https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/377633786382401536 https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/377640498699055104 The Democrats lost because of a grassroots effort. Here's a note over at Daily Kos this morning:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 10, 2013 42 Comments
As of this writing, it's unclear where things stand. There is a vague offer by Vladimir Putin agreed to by Syria to turn over chemical weapons, but Russia opposes a binding U.N. resolution to that effect and the details are to be worked out. Putin also insists that the U.S. agree not to use force. We will see how this all plays out, but it appears that Obama is negotiating the terms of a surrender to Putin and Assad. (Transcript here) Reactions: https://twitter.com/ChuckLane1/status/377606769259708417 https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/377603647317630977 https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/377605225743269888 https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/377603196169891840

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 10, 2013 63 Comments
Late Update: Police released the home security system raw video. The video looks like someone was videoing a screen, and was able to zoom in and out of the screen. The video doesn't show much until about the 6:45 mark, when several people including a large man confront George on the driveway. The man puts his hand on George. It then appears that the man either gave George or he had with him what likely was the iPad. It looks like George was doing something to it (Shellie said cutting) and then threw it on the ground: Zimmerman House Video iPad Other than that, the video doesn't show any sort of confrontation, although throughout it people, including what appears to be Shellie holding the iPad, follow him around in a somewhat aggressive posture, getting between him and the car he was filming. FOX 35 News Orlando --------------------------------- Lake Mary, Florida, police are holding a press conference as to video just released of the altercation between George and Shellie Zimmerman. Prior post: iPad video important to Zimmerman dispute as police continue to investigate. Police dash cam video (full embed at bottom of post) shows Zimmerman being placed into custody. It is not known if the police will have news about iPad video which may show the confrontation. UPDATE: The Police have not yet decided whether to charge anyone. The witnesses in the house did not clearly see the confrontation and are unclear as to what happened. The video on the iPad has not yet been recovered, but the police expect that it will be, and at that point they will make a decision. The police did not search the car because all witnesses, including Shellie and her father, told police that they did not actually see a gun, and the police did not believe they had probable cause to search the car. [Press conference over, will post video when available]

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 10, 2013 16 Comments

That could apply to so much of what is going on in the news. But I'm referring to Lawrence O'Donnell and Anthony Weiner. ...

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