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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 August 28, 2010 2 Comments

There he goes again.  Greg Sargent -- in a post at The Washington Post picked up and spread wide in the blogosphere and by Harry Reid's campaign -- claims that Sharron Angle twice refuses to disavow claim that there are "domestic enemies" in Congress.The background...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 28, 2010 5 Comments

Mike Stopa is running in the September 14 Republican primary for Congress in the MA-03 District, currently (and hopefully not for long) occupied by Jim McGovern.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aBHPqaceXA?fs=1]Check out Stopa's YouTube channel, which has some great videos on how to kill Obamacare, as well as this one (which...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 27, 2010 7 Comments

The latest Mason-Dixon Poll released by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows Reid up 1 point, 45-44.The headlines are screaming that 68% of voters would have preferred another GOP candidate, but that seems like a meaningless number since the choice is between Reid and Angle, and on...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 27, 2010 9 Comments

The Eliminationist theorists in the left-wing blogosphere thought they finally had their man.  Having struck out with the Anti-Muslim Cabbie Stabber in the quest to prove that there is a rising tide of right-wing violence instigated by Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and wingnuts, the Eliminationist theorists were cheered...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 26, 2010 10 Comments

Since it appears that Anti-Muslim Cabbie Stabber Michael Enright had no connection to anti-Cordoba mosque groups, you knew the disappointed ones would search long and hard for a Tea Party connection.They prayed they would find something.  Anything.  And they did.Wait for it ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 26, 2010 8 Comments

You can't make this stuff up.I posted earlier about a school which banned the singing of Happy Birthday out of fear of, well, it's a little hard to articulate the irrational.But that's not the real story, according to Peter Daou, who uses the following diagram...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 26, 2010 9 Comments

One elementary school instituted a Taliban-like ban on singing "Happy Birthday" for fear of upsetting students who were not participating in the celebration (or something like that):A ban on singing “Happy Birthday” lasted all of four days at Chesterfield Elementary School in Missouri after angry parents bombarded...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 26, 2010 18 Comments

Bill Sparkman.  Amy Bishop.  The Fort Hood Shooter.  The IRS Plane Crasher.  The Pentagon Shooter.People who had nothing to do with each other in the real world.  In the blogosphere, each of these people was linked by a macabre desire by the left-wing blogosphere to find a crime...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 26, 2010 0 Comments

Jules Crittenden (his real name, really) has signed off his blog.We will miss him, even though he is related somehow to David Frum.He started his blog in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and figured his mission would be accomplished in short order, and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2010 6 Comments

Those of you following the "Muslim Cabbie-Stabber" incident -- in which a very drunk guy affiliated with a pro-Corboba mosque organization stabbed a cabblie who was Muslim -- will know that the left-wing blogosphere is on another one of its wrong-way rampages of righteous indignation...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2010 6 Comments

Cash for Clunkers was an abysmal failure which distorted the used car market, driving up prices and harming, most of all, poor people.But of course, you already knew that if you read this blog.  And so writes Jason Kuznicki:And the payback isn’t long in coming...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2010 7 Comments

The credibility of the Congressional Budget Office suffered a grievous blow during the health care debate when the CBO was forced by Harry Reid to "score" Obamacare using preposterous and plainly contrived assumptions in order to keep the cost estimates below a trillion dollars.Now, the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2010 3 Comments

Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), appointed in January 2009 to replace Ken Salazar, via the Greeley Gazette (h/t NRO):Michael Bennet, D-Colo, at a town hall meeting in Greeley last Saturday, Aug 21 said we had nothing to show for the debt incurred by the stimulus package and other expenditures...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2010 3 Comments

Not in New York City.  In Beirut, by other Muslims, following shooting between Shiite Hezbollah and Sunni militias:Shortly afterward, Shi’ite supporters of Hizbullah and sister organization Amal set fire to a Sunni mosque in the nearby neighborhood of Basta, according to an AP photographer.Salah, a...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2010 5 Comments

Lamest comment to Lamest Online Insult Ever:"That Reynolds, Althouse and William Jacobson are employed as faculty at US law schools tells you all you need to know about how debased the law is in this kkkountry."There was a time when they actually were funny over...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 24, 2010 14 Comments

Except that throughout much of the world, it is not.  Read Christopher Hitchens's post, A Test of Tolerance:Let us by all means make the "Ground Zero" debate a test of tolerance. But this will be a one-way street unless it is to be a test of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 24, 2010 3 Comments

China's nine-day traffic jam stretches 100km:Thousands of vehicles were bogged down Monday in a more than 100-kilometre (62-mile) traffic jam leading to Beijing that has lasted nine days and highlights China's growing road congestion woes.--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube...

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