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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 06, 2011 7 Comments

It takes someone with a big pair to display this pair of bumper stickers in Ithaca:--------------------------------------------Related Posts:Bumper Stickers - The SeriesFollow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTubeVisit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 05, 2011 13 Comments

The comments directed at the Koch brothers at left-wing blogs have been among the most vile I have seen anywhere on any topic.But this one by frequent Salon.com commenter Marc22309, who has published over 1800 "letters" (what Salon.com calls comments) certainly is among the most vile:It's interesting how...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 05, 2011 7 Comments

The New York Times had an article today about David Koch, focused on the opening of a cancer center in Boston donated by Koch, but also touching on the Think Progress and left-wing smear campaign against Koch.Koch made an interesting comment regarding the "prank" call in which...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 05, 2011 11 Comments

Anything goes.Spotted in Ithaca this morning:--------------------------------------------Related Posts:Bumper Stickers - The SeriesFollow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTubeVisit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 05, 2011 8 Comments

Democrat David Cicilline was Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, for 8 years, replacing the colorful and convicted Mayor Buddy Cianci.  Cicilline was elected in November to Congress in Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District (my home district), for the open seat vacated by Patrick Kennedy.Cicilline is an openly gay Italian...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 04, 2011 11 Comments

There is an economic measurement phenomenon developing which has the potential -- in a bass ackwards way -- to help Obama's re-election prospects.The jobs situation is so bad and so lacking in hope that more and more people simply are dropping out of the workforce,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 04, 2011 7 Comments

Among the many, many false narratives Barack Obama successfully perpetrated on the American public in 2008 with the help of a compliant and fawning media was the notion that Obama's election was the result of "small donors" and a grassroots fundraising movement.It all was part...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 04, 2011 10 Comments

As my readers know, I have taken an interest in polling, primarily because it seems so many polls are agenda driven.  In a post last week, I pointed to a PPP poll on Wisconsin which used sample data which underweighted Walker voters from 2010 and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 04, 2011 11 Comments

In what will come as a shock to no one who lives in reality, the revolutions throughout the Middle East, while sparked in many instances by people who share western-style democratic values, are turning Islamist, and the Obama administration is dithering and accepting the outcome as a...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 03, 2011 15 Comments

A campaign by Think Progress to demonize and marginalize the Koch brothers has jumped the shark.No, I'm not referring to the cretin who posted a comment here calling me a "Koch whore."No, I'm not referring to the theft of David Koch's identity by a liberal blogger.No,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 03, 2011 11 Comments

This time it's in Ohio, and the "threat" comes from a police union lawyer directed at an Ohio Republican state senator who voted in favor of S.B. 5, the bill stripping public employee unions of collective bargaining rights.  The lawyer, after being told that the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 03, 2011 4 Comments

Andrew Sullivan loves to accuse conservatives and Republicans of blowing various racial and other dog whistles:The Bald Racism Of Rush Limbaugh ("Is any American more adept at exploiting racial dog whistles?")"Media Is Everything" ("Breitbart, like Drudge, gets the web. He understands its subversive and rhetorical power: the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 03, 2011 3 Comments

Providence, Rhode Island, where I used to work and near where I now live, is a wonderful city.  The always colorful Buddy Cianci took a down-on-its-luck former industrial blight and turned it into the crown jewel not only of Rhode Island, but of the Northeast. ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 03, 2011 14 Comments

Ann Althouse has been observing the revolution in Madison (brought to you by PEU™) and correctly observes that the Wisconsin protesters are losing their grip on reality.It's not just the protesters.The supporters of the Wisconsin protesters in the left-blogosphere also are losing their grip on reality.Witness...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 03, 2011 6 Comments

The former gets it, the latter doesn't but thinks it does.From Keith Burgess-Jackson, in Texas:From the Senior Executive First Vice President for Subway Affairs, in Legal Insurrection's New York City News Bureau:For the answer to the age old question, "So how does brokeass, dumbass, redneck Texas stack up against progressive...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 02, 2011 7 Comments

Thanks to a commenter to my post More Police Insurrection In Madison for this clip of a caller to a Wisconsin talk show about the conduct of police unions in the current protests:--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTubeVisit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!...

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