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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 March 09, 2011 24 Comments

The video sting operation which showed two senior NPR employees, including Ron Schiller, dining with purported members of a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group which was considering a large donation to NPR, is being presented by NPR and its supporters as some sort of horrific surprise.In fact, the contents of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 09, 2011 8 Comments

Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature do not need a 3/5ths quorum to pass non-budgetary legislation.Gov. Scott Walker previously rejected calls to pass the collective bargaining provisions of the budget bill separately.  Walker's reasoning was that while the collective bargaining provisions in isolation may not be budgetary, they...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 09, 2011 20 Comments

Just a day after the release of a devastating video of NPR officials dining with a purported Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group for the purpose of soliticing a $5 million donation, and months after the Juan Williams firing, Vivian Schiller, President and CEO of NPR has resigned.NPR...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 09, 2011 3 Comments

This is the third in a series of GUEST POSTS by Matthew Knee, a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University specializing in campaigns and elections, ethnic voting patterns, public opinion, and quantitative and experimental approaches to political science.___________________Handling BiasToday I will discuss ways to handle bias...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 08, 2011 2 Comments

If you read this blog, you have heard many tales of woe regarding my home State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.  The state's economy is sinking under the weight of public employee pensions and high taxes.  That's not me talking, that's The NY Times'...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 08, 2011 2 Comments

I appeared yesterday as a guest of Mark Carbonaro of KION 1460 in Monterey, California, to talk about the March 3, 2011 decision of Judge Roger Vinson in Florida granting a stay of his prior health care ruling which had held the health care mandate to be...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 08, 2011 48 Comments

The Daily Caller has a video filmed by a group run by James O'Keefe in which the President of the NPR Foundation reveals the blatent biases of NPR and puts to rest any claim that NPR's news operation is non-political.O'Keefe's group presented itself to NPR...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 08, 2011 3 Comments

This is the second in a series of GUEST POSTS by Matthew Knee, a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University specializing in campaigns and elections, ethnic voting patterns, public opinion, and quantitative and experimental approaches to political science.___________________Samples & Margin of Error1. Sampling Error Will Always Be There...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 08, 2011 7 Comments

Thanks to reader Jason for sending this photo he took near Raleigh, North Carolina, which apparently is almost as fertile bumper sticker hunting grounds as Ithaca (I said "almost"):Oh, and in case you were wondering, we have a Class A hyprocrite behind this wheel:--------------------------------------------Related Posts:Bumper Stickers...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 07, 2011 28 Comments

There is a sentence no one seems to pay attention to in an opinion piece masquerading as reporting  in The NY Times on how Beck and Fox News -- supposedly -- will be parting ways at the end of the year.The rest of the "story" has heartened the left-blogosphere...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 07, 2011 3 Comments

Cousin of Michelle Malkin, has disappeared mysteriously in Seattle.Please spread the word, particularly those of you in the Seattle area.Here is the latest news report:Seattle Police say a missing persons detective will be investigating a University of Washington student reported missing Saturday.Relatives say Marizela Perez,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 07, 2011 9 Comments

My home State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is as blue a state as they come.  Our entire congressional delegation is Democratic and Democrats control the state legistature.  Democrats outnumber Republicans by 37%, the highest gap in any state (only the District of Columbia has...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 07, 2011 25 Comments

So says Sarah Palin's father in this interview with the BBC, because of death threats:In the kitchen of their Wasilla home, among an extraordinary collection of animal skins, skulls and bones, the spoils of a lifetime spent hunting and fishing, they told me that their...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 07, 2011 9 Comments

This is the first in a series GUEST POSTS by Matthew Knee, a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University specializing in campaigns and elections, ethnic voting patterns, public opinion, and quantitative and experimental approaches to political science.____________________Analyzing polls with only what polling companies release is a tricky...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 06, 2011 29 Comments

Per posts at The Hill and Ben Smith, the Obama administration is playing its usual childish games, this time heaping praise on Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, former Republican Governor of Utah, for the purpose of undermining Huntsman's appeal to Republican voters should Huntsman choose...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 06, 2011 8 Comments

Thanks to reader Mark for the link to this video, from the makers of Liberal Foreign Policy Explained, How Liberal Journalists Think, Liberal Taxes Explained, Feminism Explained, and Meet The Liberal Elite.Update:  I don't usually add to these videos, but given what is going on...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 06, 2011 6 Comments

The Board of Editors of The New York Times is demanding significant cut backs in public sector union contracts, but refuses to recognize the cause of the problem, which is the entire structure of public employee unions:At a time when public school students are being...

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