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.
Voting for Obama "despite everything" was enough to get him through 2012. Spotted in Ithaca at the Wegmans shopping center....
Charles Krauthamer observes the lawlessness of the Obama administration: Remember how for months Democrats denounced Republicans for daring to vote to defund or postpone Obamacare? Saboteurs! Terrorists! How dare you alter “the law of the land.” This was nonsense from the beginning. Every law is subject to...
It will stand the test of time. Those who were willing to stand against Obamacare despite all the name calling, and who are proven to have been correct. Obama and Democrats now are scrambling to delay various portions of the Obamacare rollout, even though such delays when...
Iran is currently enjoying a “window” of time before the six-month deal signed in Geneva early Sunday goes into effect, during which it is not bound to take any credible steps toward disabling its ability to produce a nuclear weapon, the State Department acknowledged Tuesday. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the six-month interim period, during which Iran would take steps to rein in its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, has not yet begun. Furthermore, there are still a number of details to be worked out, she said, without specifying what points had yet to be finalized.
The Thanksgiving Surprise...
On Friday, a self-described nonprofit, nonpartisan government accountability group filed a complaint with the IRS that Enroll America was violating its tax-exempt status by participating in partisan politics, citing the Project Veritas video as evidence. The group, Cause for Action, has also written a letter to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot, asking him to investigate whether Enroll America and other groups have violated the state’s laws and the IRS code.Now Tarango has resigned according to O'Keefe's website:
It's hard being a principled member of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement. With Israel being a leader in computer, medical and other technologies, one would have to enter a time machine back to the 1950s to truly boycott Israeli products. The Cornell Students For Justice...
From Diana: I saw the these bumper stickers at the local whole foods store. The nice lady to whom they belong tells me that she’s had to replace some of them, as they’ve been torn off her car. She says the Chapter 11 sticker has been undisturbed, though....
George Zimmerman has hired a new lawyer to handle the domestic violence case against him. The public defender who was representing Zimmerman tells local media that he has hired attorney and frequent cable news contributor Jayne Weintraub. As Bob Kealing tells us, some legal analysts are questioning Zimmerman's new hire. "It really boggles the mind." WESH 2 legal analyst Richard Hornsby says it appears George Zimmerman has chosen south Florida defense attorney Jayne Weintraub because of her high profile on cable television.[caption id="attachment_71823" align="aligncenter" width="483"]
(Jayne Weintraub)[/caption]
Court records released today also indicated the weapons Zimmerman had in his possession at the time of his arrest:
Seriously. https://twitter.com/DanRiehl/status/405455788228882433 From Fars News Agency, Iran Strongly Rejects Text of Geneva Agreement Released by White House: TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called invalid a press release by the White House alleged to be the text of the nuclear agreement struck by Iran and the...
Reader 9thDistrictNeighbor and her husband are Kenyon College graduates. She sent me a link to a story from November 21 about two Kenyon students who dressed as ghosts, were confronted by campus security, accused of racism, and ultimately apologized for being insensitive to their white male...
U.S. President Barack Obama has had two overarching goals in the Iran crisis. The first was to stop the Iranian regime from gaining possession of a nuclear weapon. The second was to prevent Israel from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. This weekend, the president achieved one of these goals. He boxed-in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so comprehensively that it's unimaginable Israel will strike Iran in the foreseeable future. Netanyahu had his best chance to attack in 2010 and 2011, and he missed it. He came close but was swayed by Obama’s demand that he keep his planes parked. It would be a foolhardy act -- one that could turn Israel into a true pariah state, and bring about the collapse of sanctions and possible war in the Middle East -- if Israel were to attack Iran now, in the middle of negotiations.I think it's much broader than forestalling an Israeli attack.
The story of this small band of men has been told, but not told enough. Spann was killed during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi when Taliban prisoners gained access to weapons and attacked. Spann was killed during that uprising (see video). One of the prisoners was the so-called American Taliban, John Walker Lyndh, who Spann interrogated shortly before Spann’s death. Spann’s wife Shannon also worked for the CIA. In addition to his wife, Spann left behind two daughters and an infant son Spann’s family established a website to honor his life, and there is a wealth of information and photos at his Arlington National Cemetery page. There is an interesting honor paid to Spann at the website of Afghan General and Warlord Abdul Radhis Dostum, including a link to a photo of the memorial to Spann at the site of the uprising in which he died.We also had follow up posts: Now meet his oldest child, daughter Alison:
Under the interim agreement Iran will be allowed to enrich uranium at low levels. Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif said the deal recognized his country's nuclear program. This is a major victory for Iran whose leaders have insisted for nearly a decade that it has the right to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Officially, the Obama administration has not recognized that any country has this right under the treaty. It has argued that Iran has to adhere to the terms of prior U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit Iran from enrichment.It is smoke and mirrors, allowing the Obama administration to declare diplomatic victory, change the subject, and create the straw man argument that anyone opposed to the agreement wants war. https://twitter.com/JohnCornyn/status/404624480837722112 https://twitter.com/dansenor/status/404626184865996800
