Image 01 Image 03

Author: William A. Jacobson

Profile photo

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.

Wow, Joe Sestak's internal polling must be really awful for him to start running commercials (h/t Gateway Pundit via HotAir) in which he holds up a sack of dog poop to symbolize all the troubles he's had as a Democrat picking up after Republicans.How desperate.  A...

Todd Young is on my Top 10 List, running against incumbent Baron Hill in Indiana-09 district.Hill embodies the arrogance which has characterized Democratic Party control of Congress for the past several years:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtmgQ2W3lhM?fs=1]New polling shows that the race is a toss-up.  Via The Hill, Rep. Baron...

My first blog post was October 12, 2008, Obama is "Door No. 2":As in Let's Make a Deal, choosing Door No. 2 carries great risks. So does choosing Obama.Obama may be a post-racial healer, or he may be someone who carefully uses race and false...

I will not repeat all the facts in my prior posts, you are familiar by now with the scenario.  Let's just say my instincts were right on this one. As I suspected, provocateur Lauren Valle was not so innocent. In an amazing videotape obtained by Redstate, Valle is shown...

The Providence Journal, the only statewide daily newspaper in Rhode Island which dominates news coverage, has endorsed Democrat David Cicilline for Congress in the RI-01 District, running against John Loughlin.  As my readers know, this is my home district and I support Loughlin.Unfortunately, the PolitiFact feature...

Add the race in NY-24 to the list of my Top 10 races (also RI-01 and NY-22) which are tightening in the final two weeks.From CQ Politics, Richard Hanna has pulled within 5 points of Democrat incumbent Michael Arcuri, down from 8 points just a...

Via Amanda Terkel (of Think Progress fame) writing at HuffPo:Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D), first elected to Congress in 1992, hasn't seen a tough re-election battle since 1994, the year of the Republican revolution that swept so many Democrats out of power. He has been a...

The fiasco of Obama's visit to Rhode Island -- which led Frank Caprio, the Democratic candidate for Governor, to tell Obama to "shove" his endorsement -- holds tremendous potential to split the Democratic base.Obama came to Rhode Island to raise funds for the national Democratic...

The left-blogosphere and punditry have been hoping for right-wing political violence for two years now with no success.  From Bill Sparkman to countless others, these people have been waiting for the fire to justify all the smoke they have been blowing about "extremist" and "crazy"...

I think a lot of conservatives are afraid to put bumper stickers on their cars for fear of vandalism.  Call it the "driving while conservative" phenomenon; or maybe "parking while conservative."Vandalism of McCain signs, and houses/car bearing those signs, was widespread during the 2008 campaign. ...

Prior to the Kentucky Senate debate in Paducah last night, a woman with a history of politically-inspired vandalism who was dressed in disguise approached Rand Paul to present him with a Move-On.org "award," and was pulled to the ground by Paul supporters, one of whom needlessly...

Via a link at HotAir, comes another over-the-top mainstream media fluff piece about the Coffee Party, making it out to be more than it is, this time by Agence France-Presse, Coffee Party seeks to outbrew Tea Party in US politics. In case you haven't noticed, I...

On Election Day we will have an all day and all night (at least until Ma'am sings) Live Event similar to what we had on January 19, 2010, when over 21,000 people (not visits, people) participated in our live feed (using Cover-It-Live) to watch the election...

The high and mighty Democrats in Rhode Island who paid $7500 per plate to attend an elaborately catered dinner with Barack Obama were left with an empty seat at the table.As reported by The Providence Journal, after giving a 20-minute speech to those gathered at the...

Via WPRI in Rhode Island.  The rest is just a formality:--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube...

Tuesday, October 26, from 8-9 a.m. (E.S.T.), I'll be a guest on the Helen Glover Show at Talk 920 AM in Providence, RI, one of the two major talk shows in the Rhode Island / Southeastern Massachusetts market.  You can listen live here.Helen is on...

Why had I not seen this before? Am I the only one?[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54FRMedT_s?fs=1]--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube...

Post-2008, Obama does not have a good record of bringing home the vote for candidates for whom he stumps.This appears to be repeating itself in Rhode Island.As I posted early this morning, Obama is in Rhode Island campaigning for David Cicilline, the Democratic nominee in...