Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 02, 2010 4 Comments

That's what David Cameron (Conservative - U.K.) has made one of his campaign themes:In a Sunday Times interview, the Conservative leader revealed the four pieces of legislation that would dominate his debut Queen’s speech ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2010 9 Comments

Intergenerational warfare is breaking out in Greece as youth blame their elders for the economic mess, resulting from decades of welfare-state policies, that has left Greece bankrupt.I wonder whether the questions being asked by the youth of Greece are the same questions our children and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2010 11 Comments

This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:It has been eight days since the Governor of Arizona signed the immigration law. A few tweaks have been made in the wording of the law since then, but...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2010 27 Comments

post about it (yet). Link to it (yet). Sneak it into a post about something else (yet).Because you already know about it.And you know what I am talking about.(Comments are now open.)--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2010 19 Comments

My my, how Paul Krugman worries that our President may come under criticism from the vast right-wing conspiracy for the Eight Days In April.The Eight Days In April during which our President twiddled his environmental clean-up and emergency response thumbs in the face of what...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2010 1 Comment

I said it: Oh, please. Obama's multi-trillion dollar spending spree is a lobbyist's wet dream. More money will be made by more lobbyists divvying up this pork than in the collective history of the United States.And they dreamed it: I can't believe I put "wet...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2010 12 Comments

The Justice Department has commenced a criminal investigation of Goldman Sachs:Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into trading at Goldman Sachs, raising the possibility of criminal charges against the Wall Street giant, according to people familiar with the matter.While the investigation is still in a...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2010 8 Comments

... if you want to be able to continue using terms like Nazi, Communist and Apartheid to describe the new Arizona immigration law. Or if, like President Obama, you want to claim that the law would allow people to be questioned merely for going out...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 29, 2010 26 Comments

This whole boycott thing is getting really confusing.California is boycotting Arizona because of the Arizona immigration law.But weren't we already supposed to be boycotting California because of Prop. 8?Or if not the entire State of California, then at least the counties which voted for Prop....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 29, 2010 19 Comments

There is a fundamental disconnect in the arguments being mounted against the Arizona immigration law. What many of the critics want to say, but do not, is that they view all immigration laws as inherently racist because most illegal immigrants are non-white.There are some legitimate...

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

Gordon Brown is a man of the people. When the people are around.When alone with aides, he dismissed as bigoted a woman who expressed concerns about how immigration from Eastern Europe would affect the economy. But moments earlier, in public, he praised the woman.As reported...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 28, 2010 14 Comments

Remember when Democrats fell all over themselves trying to prove that Obamacare would not cover illegal aliens? When Joe Wilson shouted "you lie" about coverage for illegal aliens, Obama and Democratic leaders assured the nation that illegal aliens would be excluded.Under the final Senate health...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 27, 2010 3 Comments

Dave Weigel now blogs at The Washington Post covering "the conservative movement and Republican Party."I'll leave an assessment of Weigel's prior blogging aside for the moment.At least now he knows what it is like to experience Palin Derangement Syndrome first hand (emphasis mine): Last night...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 27, 2010 6 Comments

I previously posted about a recent report by the Office of Medicare Actuary which found that Obamacare would increase costs, and that the final health care bill made numerous unrealistic cost assumptions.I also made the follow observation as to why the report came out so...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 27, 2010 21 Comments

It is over-the-top and out-of-control when it comes to the Arizona immigration bill recently signed. Not the law itself, but the reaction.Linda Greenhouse's opinion piece in The NY Times epitomizes the absurd rhetoric (emphasis mine):I’m glad I’ve already seen the Grand Canyon.Because I’m not going...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 27, 2010 1 Comment

Politico has figured out that "Obama the uniter" never existed.Obama created momentum by identifying enemies against whom to campaign, and has continued that practice in office. The only change is that in an earlier incarnation, the enemies were groups, whereas now the enemies are individuals.As...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 27, 2010 14 Comments

There are many voices of hate, but the voices most ignored by the mainstream media come not from Tea Parties or maligned conservative groups, but from the intolerant left. After someone who did commercial voice-overs for Geico was fired for leaving threatening messages at FreedomWorks (which...

Accessibility by WAH