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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 02, 2012 14 Comments

There is some really good front page imagery going on these days. There oughta be a prize given out for it. Via Zeke Miller at BuzzFeed (h/t BuzzFeedAndrew), The NY Post weighs in on Obama's trip to Afghanistan. ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 02, 2012 27 Comments

There is an active effort by Elizabeth Warren's campaign to distract from the real issue regarding Warren's claim of Native American status during the mid-80s to mid-90s, when she was moving from one law school to another up the food chain until she reached Harvard...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 02, 2012 37 Comments

Jennifer Rubin, the "right" blogger at The Washington Post, gained fame throughout the primaries by obsessively skewering each not-Romney who rose in the polls, even not-Romneys like Rick Santorum she had praised when convenient to use against another not-Romney. Because of her platform at WaPo and her...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 02, 2012 9 Comments

From reader "Joe" (or was it "Tom"?) who asked not to use even his real first name because "I'd like my children to keep their playmates": Saw these on the back of an SUV on Bainbridge Island, Washington. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bainbridge_Island,_Washington) This is the first time I've seen an...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2012 27 Comments

The Elizabeth Warren story is not about whether she is 1/32nd Cherokee. Questions persist as to why Warren listed herself as Native American, a fact as to which she had no proof until yesterday, only in a publication almost exclusively used by other law professors and Deans during a time...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2012 25 Comments

Obama's speech from Afghanistan, standing in front of military vehicles at Bagram Air Base, was fairly predictable. Yet in this moment of spiking the football, Obama needed to remind us that we are not yet worthy as a nation (emphasis mine): Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, coast guardsmen...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2012 42 Comments

This video, via The NY Sun, is brutal, as Kathleen Sebelius is taken to school by Trey Gowdy (R-SC): An account of the hearing was issued by the Catholic News Agency. It’s almost painful to read. The secretary admits she was unaware of legal precedents confirming...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2012 44 Comments

Breaking news is that Obama has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to sign a security agreement and will hold a 7:30 p.m. address to the nation from Bagram Air Force Base. At what point does this all backfire?  It's so transparently political taking place on...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2012 21 Comments

I have serious problems with Dick Lugar's record, particularly on his alleged foreign policy expertise. As documented here, Lugar has engaged in repeated wishful thinking on Iran (one more post in the series still to come), and irresponsibly vouched for Obama's foreign policy credentials just three...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2012 56 Comments

Yesterday I posted about how Elizabeth Warren's campaign acknowledged that she self-identified as Native American on forms she filled out for the Association of American Law Schools in the mid-1980s through 1994, but that she still was searching for the genealogical evidence to support her...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2012 2 Comments

by voting on November 6 for a change. Attached is a bumper/window treatment about coexistence I can support. Seen in the parking lot of a medical office building in South Florida. Thanks for your efforts. Fair Winds, Dave ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2012 11 Comments

The conservative undergraduate bi-weekly newspaper on campus, The Cornell Review, has a new website where you can read the newspaper in a pretty cool viewer.  Kathleen is the Executive Editor.  Pretty soon they will integrate the Cornell Insider, the blog affiliate, into the website. The Cornell Review also...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2012 38 Comments

and with all the mockery I have heaped on Obama and windmills, I could not have dreamed up this headline and story, Wind farms may have warming effect - research: Large wind farms might have a warming effect on the local climate, research in the United...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2012 29 Comments

It should be obvious to anyone who has attended almost any liberal arts college in the past 40 years that there is no War on Women on campuses.  Just the opposite is true; by almost all measures women have achieved numerical and political superiority on campus, yet...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2012 0 Comments

Some things in a fairly active weekend: Why isn't the Mourdock campaign talking about Dick Lugar and Iran? Sarah for Mourdock I believe, I believe Newt a “RINO among Rhinos”? Obama got Osama, but lost the Middle East Mia B. Love: “We’re not about singling Americans out” The shot heard round the...

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