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.
"Georgetown’s embarrassing capitulation [to the "online outrage"] is antithetical to the tenets of liberal education...
A promise Biden now portrays as high-minded in fact was a trade for an endorsement....
Andrew Sullivan: "If the left has stealthily changed public education from above, the right has now used the only power they have to fight back — political clout in state legislatures."...
Plaintiffs' attorney: “We’re proceeding to discovery in the district court later today and waiting on the final scheduling order, but in any event will be filing a motion for summary judgment in February....
Used letters "N" and "B" on exam hypo about employment discrimination, leading to campaign to fire him. The FIRE notes: "In a stunning display of unintended irony, the individualized training materials [UIC tried to force on Kilborn] include the same redacted slur that Kilborn used in his test question." ...
Biden has confirmed his campaign promise only to consider Black women for the next vacancy, and will make a nomination by the end of February....
Lawrence Tribe 2020 on Barrett nomination: "While the vice president has the power to cast a tiebreaking vote to pass a bill, the Constitution does not give him the power to break ties when it comes to the Senate’s “Advice and Consent” role in approving presidential appointments...
Biden has promised to fill a vacancy with a Black woman....
Alfred Henry Lewis' observation dating back to 1896 still rings true. There is a thin line between society and anarchy. It's thinner than we want to admit. ...
Allegations: "Dr. Manco, a Caucasian former Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at St. Joseph's seeks damages from St. Joseph's as it is responsible for the actions of a small group of administrators when they purported to give credence to completely false, unsupported, undocumented, and implausible...
The cases put affirmative action, that is, discrimination in order to achieve racial diversity, squarely on the table for reconsideration....
Prof. Jackson was swept up in the cancel culture mania that swept academia in the summer of 2020, as BLM riots swept cities. He wasn't fired, but sues alleging his free speech rights were violated and he was defamed....
Meat Loaf played a big role in the coming of age of me and so many others who graduated high school in 1977, the year Meat Loaf released his massive hit album, Bat Out of Hell, which remains one of the top 10 best selling...
Today the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to force the 5th Circuit Appeals Court, which has certified questions of state law to the Texas Supreme Court, to send the case back to the District Court for a decision on the merits....
"Oh, yeah, I think it could easily be illegitimate ...
"The FSU Middle East Center did not renew its annual membership in MESA for the 2022 calendar year. Membership expired Dec. 31, 2021."...
