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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 March 23, 2010 16 Comments

Some more thoughts on the worst piece of legislation "since the Great Depression," in no particular order:Democrats won the messaging war. Democrats succeeded in portraying the bill as being about "giving" people "health care." Even Republicans used the terminology. In fact, everyone has hospital care...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 22, 2010 34 Comments

At first, I thought this was a hoax, so I held off posting. But apparently it is for real, University of Ottawa's letter to Ann Coulter. I am reprinting it in full, because it is a paradigm of intolerance of opposing conservative viewpoints under...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 22, 2010 36 Comments

Last night was bad. The law passed by the Senate and House really is that horrible.But it's the morning after, and your mourning should be over.The mainstream media and the nutroots will try to demoralize you, and there will be plenty of gloat to go...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 21, 2010 22 Comments

David Frum knows who is to blame for what appears to be an Obamacare victory: Conservatives who refused to negotiate with Democrats even though Frum admits he has no idea if such negotiations would have resulted in a better bill.I do know. The bill which...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 21, 2010 5 Comments

The housing bubble peaked in 2005. The bubble reflected a fiscal lack of reality built upon the greater fool theory, that there always would be another buyer foolish enough to pay more. (Chart via Bubblemeter) We now are on the cusp of passing a health...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 21, 2010 28 Comments

Anyone who has read this blog before knows that since last summer I have focused on the mandate as the core evil in the various incarnations of the Democratic restructuring of the health care system.So much else that is wrong in the current bill set...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 21, 2010 3 Comments

On March 14, 2010, Marine Corporal Jonathan Daniel Porto was killed in Afghanistan.Every loss of one of our soldiers is tragic, but this tragedy has hit home because Cpl. Porto's wife has posted about it at her blog, A Little Pink in a World of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 20, 2010 6 Comments

Iran is killing American and coalition soldiers in Afghanistan.And not because Israel issued a building permit for more homes in an already Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem.As reported by the Times of London, Iranians train Taliban to use roadside bombs:TALIBAN commanders have revealed that hundreds of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 20, 2010 4 Comments

I realize that the truth behind Obamacare's numbers really doesn't matter to Democrats, and anyone reading this probably is part of my choir, but I'll continue my almost year-long preaching anyway.Barack Obama pitches the Senate health care bill as the greatest deficit reduction plan in...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 20, 2010 7 Comments

"Deem and Pass" is dead. There will be an up or down vote on the Senate bill in the House.But not until the House passes amendments to the Senate bill before it passes the Senate bill:House leaders have decided to take a separate vote...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 20, 2010 13 Comments

Back in November 2009, when the House passed its version of Obamacare, I wrote that Nancy Pelosi had obtained victory at the cost of planting an abortion land mine in the form of the Stupak Amendment.No Stupak Amendment, no House "Yes" vote in November.The game...

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

The lies behind the Obamacare push resemble birds flocking together and fish swimming in schools. By throwing forward so many falsehoods as to the supposed benefits of Obamacare, it confuses attackers and makes it harder to isolate any one lie. Firedoglake, which stands almost alone in...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 19, 2010 8 Comments

Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham have put forth the outlines of an immigration plan, which has been endorsed by Obama as the basis for immigration reform.While there is no legislative text, as described by Schumer and Graham, the key is that illegal aliens automatically would...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 19, 2010 5 Comments

Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday how pleased she was with the precision of the CBO report on the cost of Obamacare. It would be easy to laugh out loud if so much were not at stake.Nancy Pelosi has no credibility to lose, so she did no...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 18, 2010 11 Comments

Barack Obama backed the decision of the Central Falls School District in Rhode Island to fire all teachers at its underperforming high school, much to the anger of teachers' unions.Now a teacher at the school has hung Obama in effigy:Responding to a rumor that one...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 18, 2010 5 Comments

Tom Coburn (R-Okla) has signaled that any Congressman who flips from a "No" to a "Yes" vote on Obamacare should not expect a federal appointment after he or she gets voted out of office:Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is putting wavering Democrats on advance notice: If...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 18, 2010 5 Comments

Firedoglake has a great list (see images below) of Democratic Congressmen who pledged -- in writing -- not to vote for any health care bill which did not include a public option but who are voting for Obamacare which does not have a public option.These...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 18, 2010 5 Comments

Now that Nancy Pelosi and company had all morning to spin the CBO report prior to its actual release, here is some language in the report you will not hear reflecting that the end result of the report is not certain at all (emphasis mine):"Although...

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