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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 April 20, 2010 15 Comments

On March 11, I reported on a proposal by a New York State Democratic legislator to ban salt in restaurants, Leave Our Salt Alone.One political scientist, who also totally missed the Scott Brown election call, vehemently objected that the claim the government would regulate salt...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 20, 2010 39 Comments

It would be easy to cheer as the Obama administration seeks to take down Goldman Sachs. After all, Goldman Sachs has become a proxy for Wall Street, since so many of the old icons no longer exist or have been consumed as a result of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 19, 2010 3 Comments

DEBKAfile is an Israeli website which focuses on intelligence, military affairs, and Middle East politics. It is a must-read and is on my list of "Blogs I Read" in the left sidebar.The site frequently breaks information about various intriques which we read about in the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 19, 2010 10 Comments

Oh, the world they live in. Surrounded by enemies, they sit in their guarded lairs waiting for "the other" to approach.And then it happens. The guards are no more, and they must face the menacing horde. Alone with their paranoia and hypocrisy and thousand...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 19, 2010 10 Comments

For two years, opponents of Obama's agenda have been painted by the mainstream media, left-wing blogs and Democratic leadership as racist and extremist white supremacists.The charges are malicious and false, as documented here dozens of times.So what happens when there is a real white supremacist,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 19, 2010 13 Comments

On Friday, Goldman Sachs was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with fraud in the formation and marketing of a mortgage backed product, a so-called Collateralized Debt Obligation.The gist of the allegations is that Goldman Sachs failed to disclose that a major hedge fund...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 18, 2010 13 Comments

You will never guess who. Or in which publication such tripe was written.For those of you who have just emerged from a three-year long coma or a round-trip to Mars, here is the context, from The New York Times (emphasis mine):They are two of the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 18, 2010 6 Comments

Just a little anecdote about the likely future of Obamacare:I was speaking with a doctor friend earlier today, and the topic turned to Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance reimbursement rates. He told me that Medicare pays him about half what private insurance pays, and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 18, 2010 6 Comments

Obamacare will have the unintended consequence of creating a two-tier system which is far more dramatic than the current system.We all know about the coercive nature of the individual and employer mandates under Obamacare. Those mandates, however, merely are mandatory (brilliant, I know).The mandates do...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2010 8 Comments

The NY Times reports on a classified memo sent by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to President Obama admitting that current U.S. strategies on Iran will not succeed in stopping Iran from building a nuclear weapon:Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has warned in a secret...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2010 4 Comments

Mea Culpa -- The second incident referred to below was by Kelly O'Donnell, not Norah O'Donnell. My mistake, corrected below. The point remains the same.-----------------------------------This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:Tonight is a...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2010 12 Comments

Dana Lithwick asks What Are Liberal Law Students So Sad About? Her conclusion is that liberal law students are sad because their liberal legal heroes can't seem to get on the Supreme Court:Since it's April, and America's law students have nothing else to do (kidding!),...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2010 3 Comments

In the company of Obama supporters, it's called "inventing" oneself: Look at how much Barack Obama had to figure out. I mean, he’s born who he is, he can look in the mirror; but it must have been extraordinarily confusing to have this father who...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2010 13 Comments

A rumor -- apparently denied -- that possible (likely?) Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is gay set the White House on a "scorched earth" attack on CBS News, where the rumor was reported in a blog. The reaction in the left-wing blogosphere has been equally...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 16, 2010 9 Comments

Underfunded state retirement systems are one of the greatest problems facing states. There does not seem to be a way out, as municipal and teachers' unions are loathe to negotiate substantial reforms and state governments simply do not have the money to meet unsustainable promises.An...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 16, 2010 2 Comments

Two weeks ago, unemployment numbers were released supposedly showing a jobs recovery, leading the New York Times and others to cheer how we had turned the corner. Steve Benen at Washington Monthly declared that this was a "breakthrough month" (rah-rah).As I discussed at the time,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2010 14 Comments

A poll released by McLaughlin & Associates claims that the American Jewish love affair with Obama is fading:According to the 2008 exit polls, Barack Obama won 78% to 21% among Jewish voters. Now, in the second year of Obama’s presidency, only 42% of voters would...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2010 19 Comments

Accusing Israel of indirectly killing American soldiers is the newest and most pernicious argument of the anti-Israeli left, traditional Arabists in government, and now, the Executive Branch of the United States government.As detailed here before, the argument goes that because the people who kill American...

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