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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.

Whether the pick of Paul Ryan for Veep was a good pick or a bad pick or something in between is irrelevant at this point. Ryan was the pick. The left-wing writers and bloggers are all over it, portraying the pick as extremist and a cave to...

The choice of Paul Ryan, and the reaction, finally got me off the donation sideline. I just donated to the Romney-Ryan campaign.  And in case you were wondering, maxed out. For the first time in my adult life I was proud to do so. It's not...

It's official, it's going to be Paul Ryan. The Romney Veep App made the announcement earlier this morning, and every news source is reporting it. The decision was made on August 1. The left already is going crazy, but that would have happened regardless of who the...

until November 7, and only if. From reader and frequent photographer Scott: Greetings once again from Raleigh, NC. I spotted this at a stoplight early this afternoon headed to a weekly appointment with my chiropractor who, by the way, insists that "he & his wife did build that"...

Romney will announce the Veep pick Saturday morning at 9 a.m. We'll have coverage here. The Weekly Standard is calling it for Paul Ryan, which means it's either Paul Ryan or the Romney campaign ran a really good feint. NRO is reporting the same: Take note, veep watchers: Earlier...

From a reader: Sorry to bother you, Professor, but I got an e-mail from a Wisconsin Recall Fund (which I don’t remember donating to, but they probably bought my e-mail from a list since I made several donations to Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefish), asking for...

No one gets rich on his own. No one. In Obama's case, Tony built it. Romney helped a couple buy house? Big deal, so did Tony Rezko nytimes.com/2012/08/10/us/…— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 10, 2012 ...

The lawsuit by Demos (an ACORN successor), which resulted in Massachusetts voluntarily taking the unprecedented step of mailing registration forms to almost 500,000 welfare recipients and other steps in welfare offices not required by law, is looking more and more like a pro-Elizabeth Warren set-up. The...

This is an update on the Upstate New York races covered last month as part of Operation Counterweight, and as before was prepared by a Cornell undergraduate student who prefers to remain anonymous. Included at the bottom of each race update are the newest Cook Report...

Reader Manny has to suffer through NYC subway nanny state posters day in and day out, like this one which he sent a while back: It has been a while since I emailed but you still remain my favorite Blogger on my reader roll. I use the...

After you have maxed out, of course, on contributing to the Allen West Congressional Black Caucus Chick-fil-A Fund. Via The Shark Tank, a SuperPAC to which West's opponent's father contributed a large sum of money is running an ad showing West beating up old women and...

There was another protest outside the Chicago Chick-fil-A last night, but unlike the other day when Anne filmed, there were protesters on each side of the issue. Rebel Pundit has the video, involving Father Gerald O'Reilly being jeered by anti-Chick-fil-A protesters and seemingly led away by...

The Rachels built America. The Sandras just feed off of it. The Sandras get calls from this President, the Rachels don't. Via DailyRushbo: Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com...

Another fabricated hate crime, this time by a gay man who claimed to have been beaten outside a bar. Via NY Daily News: A 22-year-old Montana man who told cops he was beaten up by gay-bashing thugs  while club-hopping on his birthday — igniting calls online for...

From commenter Calypso Facto: Bumper stickers ...

After two months of attack ads from Richard Lugar, and Lugar and his supporters slow to help, it's not surprising that Richard Mourdock is just a little bit ahead of Joe Donnelly in the latest Rasmussen Poll (via Power Line): The U.S. Senate race in Indiana...