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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 June 25, 2021 61 Comments

Parent's group at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology: "Fairfax County Public Schools has also broken the hearts of many deserving students by waging a crusade against Asian students at the school, first by proposing a random lottery and later by implementing the current race-balanced “holistic” admissions...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 24, 2021 30 Comments

"Plaintiff is a White farmer in Jennings, Florida who has qualifying farm loans but is ineligible for debt relief under Section 1005 solely because of his race." Judge agrees: "Race or ethnicity is the sole, inflexible factor that determines the availability of relief provided by...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 23, 2021 27 Comments

South Kingstown (RI) School Committee Chair Emily Cummiskey resigns. Solas: "I am still owed a public apology and retraction but Cummiskey's resignation sends a new message: parents will prevail. Retaliation against parents seeking information about their child's education will backfire...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 21, 2021 12 Comments
I recently posted about a behind-the-scenes effort by the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association (RISSA), together with unions and friendly legislators, to curtail public rights under the RI Access to Public Records Act (APRA), in reaction to voluminous public records requests filed by South Kingstown mom Nicole Solas seeking information about Critical Race and Gender teaching in school.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 20, 2021 76 Comments
The South Kingstown, Rhode Island, School Committee triggered a national controversy when it threatened to sue local mother Nicole Solas, who has a child enrolled in kindergarten for the fall, alleging Solas was serving too many public information requests regarding Critical Race and Gender efforts in the schools.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 19, 2021 51 Comments

SCOTUS has performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions on Obamacare for almost a decade, including recently in California v. Texas. Alito Dissent: "No one can fail to be impressed by the lengths to which this Court has been willing to go to defend the ACA...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 17, 2021 24 Comments

My column in The Washington Examiner: "America is on the precipice of a fundamentally fragmented educational system — red school districts, blue school districts — that teach very different curricula."...

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