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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 January 28, 2010 23 Comments

The stupid meme of the day is that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was "rude" to Obama during the State of the Union address because Alito grimaced and mouthed the words "not true" when Obama stoked the crowd with a lie about a recent Supreme...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 28, 2010 13 Comments

State of the Union speeches regularly infuriate the opposing party, and to that extent Barack Obama met and exceeded expectations last night.One aspect of the speech deservedly is receiving most attention: The crude attempt to intimidate the Supreme Court in front of the Congress and...

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

I'll leave it to others to do the fact check. Here's my first impression of the State of the Union speech tonight:This was a small speech. A lot of petty pot shots, including at the Supreme Court. Very Nixonian, in that regard.The verbiage was anything...

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

There still is time to input new text into the teleprompter for tonight's State of the Union address.After throwing the Venezuelan people under the bus at the Summit of the Americas last April, now would be a good time for Barack Obama to give the...

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

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! (h/t daily timewaster via Daily Telepgraph): Rescued eight years ago during a police drugs raid in Atlanta, Georgia, the three friends were only cubs at the time and barely two months old. They had been kept as status...

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

I'm actually enjoying reading NY Times columnists these days. The wonders never cease, this time from MoDo: The New One is the shimmering vessel that we are pouring all our hopes and dreams into after the grave disappointment of the Last One, Barack Obama.The only...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 26, 2010 13 Comments

We had Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts.They now have the doofus triplets committing the sin of felony all over Mary Landrieu's phone.Thanks for giving comfort to the enemies of my enemies who therefore are my friends, just when they had nothing to look forward to...

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

From Hotline On-Call (h/t):Aides to Sens. Paul Kirk (D-MA) and Kay Hagan (D-NC) tell Hotline OnCall they will vote for Bernanke's confirmation.There is an elected and qualified successor to Paul Kirk. His name is Scott Brown. Martha Coakley has conceded the race, and there are...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 26, 2010 1 Comment

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), commonly called the Stimulus Plan, is widely discredited as having done little to stimulate private sector job growth.But one thing the Stimulus Plan has created is long-term deficits. The Congressional Budget Office just released a budget...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 26, 2010 7 Comments

Look who is asking, Who Is Barack Obama?Americans are still looking for the answer, and if they don’t get it soon — or if they don’t like the answer — the president’s current political problems will look like a walk in the park...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 26, 2010 6 Comments

We can agree on the one-term thing; the "really good" part we'll have to talk about.------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 25, 2010 4 Comments

I've been preoccupied the past few weeks, so I have not followed closely enough the end of the saga in Honduras.Manuel Zelaya, the one-term President of Honduras who wanted to be the forever-term President, will be leaving the country very soon:Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 25, 2010 9 Comments

The transparency President is now the President who feels your pain.According to the NY Times, in the State of the Union address Obama will unveil some highly targeted tax credits aimed at families, and some caps on student loan repayments: By focusing on what one...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 25, 2010 16 Comments

What would one call a political strategy which depended upon portraying the majority of Americans as crazy extremists? The answer is: The current Democratic Party strategy which ignores the meaning of the Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts races, and focuses on smearing opponents as extremists...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 24, 2010 16 Comments

Via Jammie Wearing Fool, Obama Needs TelePrompter to Talk to Schoolkids:No matter what I have said in the past, I want this to be a bad PhotoShop. Honestly. Update 1-26-1020: It's kinda so, but not completely. Read the comments.--------------------------------------------Related Posts:Please Tell Me This Is Not...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 24, 2010 11 Comments

I really have very little patience for the "oh, I didn't realize what I was getting with Obama, he seemed so cool, and I was caught up in the hype, and now I realize that he talked a good game but doesn't know what he's...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 24, 2010 7 Comments

My new favorite source of screen shots has outdone itself, with this post and headline The first senator of the reality show era:The text of the Politico post has nothing to do with reality:Brown’s arrival reflects a fundamental change in American politics, the most complete...

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

In order to justify China's crackdown on free speech on the internet, including banning YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, a Chinese communist newspaper posed this question:The People's Daily editorial asked rhetorically if obscene information or activities promoting terrorism would be allowed on the internet in the...

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