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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.

Every now and then I stumble upon a column which says exactly what I had been thinking but had not yet written. Christian Whiton absolutely is on target as to the reasons behind the collective and almost uniform piling on of Newt by the Republican pundit and political class...

Listen up.  I'm sick and tired of your feel good faux-profundity. Does it make you feel good to buy those $4 lattes at Gimme Coffee?  Maybe you should put this bumper sticker on the car too. Spotted by an LI student reader in the Collegetown section of Ithaca: ...

Via The Fix, two prominent Iowa supporters of Newt Gingrich held a phone conference late this afternoon with the press in which they pushed back against the attacks on Newt: Iowa supporter of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich assailed Mitt Romney’s negative attacks, even as the...

Doings today that didn't quite fit a full post: Smitty is having none of that crap National Popular Vote proposal.  I posted about this very bad idea back in October.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it; and if it is broke, don't make it so...

Repeal of sodomy, bestiality ban sparks fight on Defense bill: As the final Defense authorization bill gets hammered out in conference committee, one surprising issue is riling both social conservatives and animal rights activists: the repeal of a ban on sodomy and bestiality...

We'll never know now, will we?  And it's ancient history, right? We have substituted speculation and conjecture for proof.  Such as, the woman who says she had a 13 year affair with Cain says they went to the Tyson-Holyfield fight together.  Cain denies it.  It's a provable/disprovable...

ABC is hosting a debate Saturday night.  I'll be live here. Should be fun.  Let's see if Romney has the guts to confront Newt face to face with all the "crazy" talk being spread about Newt by Romney's campaign, surrogates and supporters, and if he can...

The decision of the National Labor Relations Board to prevent Boeing from relocating some manufacturing to South Carolina was hailed as a necessary step to punish anti-union retaliation by the company. It all was a mere tool to give uthe machinists' union greater bargaining power, which it then used...

Rick Santorum was right about the rank hypocrisy of GOP candidates who seek Donald Trump's endorsement but will not appear at the NewsMax debate because Trump is the moderator: “Many of my opponents jockeyed to be the first to fly up to New York and use...

The attacks on Newt Gingrich from the Romney campaign and it supporters in the Beltway political and media echelons have become quite personal. The fervor reminds me not so much of a heated argument on the merits, but of a child custody proceeding in which Romney seeks...

That was the subject line on an email from reader Cathy, who writes: When Obama supporters can't afford new bumper stickers. Red marker over the year. Saw this in Longwood Florida today. We were at a stop light. :)  ...

Things I could not fit into separate posts: Self-described liberal law professor says Elena Kagan should recuse herself from Obamacare case, but ends with "Now, as to Justice Thomas …"  Concern troll? Something so important about Newt it occupies reporters' time.  Something actually important. Sometimes I lose sight of...

Fully intact: Iranian TV has shown the first video footage of an advanced US drone aircraft that Tehran says it downed near the Afghan border. Images show Iranian military officials inspecting the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft which appears to be undamaged. US officials have acknowledged the loss of the...

Romney is losing it.  His coordinated assault on Newt does not make the case for Romney. And it's embarrassing.  Romney brought out former Congressman and former Senator Jim Talent to bash Newt's leadership as Speaker. Talent forgets that the internet has a long memory, and that...

No one could have seen this coming, right? Democrat Elizabeth Warren has opened up a lead against Republican incumbent Scott Brown for the first time in their U.S. Senate showdown, but a barrage of attack ads appears to have damaged Warren and Brown’s standing among Massachusetts...

Democratic Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska negotiated the now infamous "Cornhusker Kickback" payoff from Obama for Nelson's vote in favor of Obamacare. The payoff was an embarrassment for the people of Nebraska, as I noted at the time.  One Nebraska family care physician wrote an open letter to...