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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 28, 2010 5 Comments

Barack Obama's insistence that Israel cease all building in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, calling such neighborhoods "settlements," raises an interesting question. Who are the settlers in Jerusalem? A good example of the lack of clarity over Palestinian claims to Jerusalem is found in prominent Palestinian-American...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 28, 2010 6 Comments

Frank Rich has a blood lust as do many of those pushing the false meme that opposition to Obama equals racism and violence, as witnessed by Rich's latest polemic in the NY Times today, The Rage Is Not About Health Care.As happened with the Bill...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 27, 2010 4 Comments

Let me guess, this is all Israel's fault in the new "balanced" approach to the Middle East. From the Times of London:SAUDI ARABIA is pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into Islamist groups in the Balkans, some of which spread hatred of the West...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 27, 2010 12 Comments

Numerous companies already have announced enormous financial write-downs related to Obamacare's cutback of subsidies for prescription drug benefit programs for retirees.These subsidies, while characterized by Democrats as "loopholes," actually saved the government money because it cost less to subsidize private drug programs than for the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 27, 2010 27 Comments

The reaction to Obama's treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ("Bibi") Netanyahu was as strong if not stronger than I have seen in the comments here and elsewhere in the blogosphere on any other issue. (I didn't let through a number of over-the-top comments.)Why this...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 26, 2010 4 Comments

Here is how Hamas has responded to Obama's peace initiative (i.e., humiliation of Netanyahu and contrived crisis):A Hamas cross-border attack on Israeli forces outside Kissufim Friday, March 26, killed an officer, Maj. Eliraz Peretz, Dep. Commander of Golani Battalion 12, 31, from Eli and 1st...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 26, 2010 15 Comments

From Nile Gardiner at The Telegraph (h/t Gateway Pundit via Instapundit), on the destructive Obama foreign policy:I wrote recently about Barack Obama’s sneering contempt for both Israel and Great Britain. Further confirmation of this was provided today with new details emerging regarding the President’s appalling...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 26, 2010 5 Comments

In late October 2008, shortly before the election, I wrote an article for American Thinker titled It's 3 a.m. and the Prime Minister of Israel is Calling.The title of my article was a play on Hillary Clinton's 3 a.m. campaign ad, which suggested that Obama...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 25, 2010 15 Comments

Marc Ambinder and Steve Benen have it all figured out. The lawsuits challenging the health care mandate obviously are frivolous because the Complaints filed do not contain any case authority supporting the claims.Gotcha! Those dumb Republican lawyers obviously don't know what they're doing! They have...

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

(Image via Voting Female)Title translation here.--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook ...

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

The connection between health insurance and death rates is, at best, tenuous.Ruth Marcus, in The Washington Post, pointed out yesterday that studies are not in agreement on the subject, leading Marcus to conclude as to Obamacare: "Gee, I hope this works out."But that has not...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 24, 2010 19 Comments

From a CBS News poll released today, a clear majority of Americans want Republicans to keep fighting Obamacare:All the euphoria and giddiness from the Democrats and nutroots should not deter us from fighting this monstrosity, this abysmal, stunted, grotesque, freakish, ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 24, 2010 6 Comments

Jackson Diehl in The Washington Post: Netanyahu is being treated as if he were an unsavory Third World dictator,needed for strategic reasons but conspicuously held at arms length.Wrong. Unsavory Third World dictators are not treated this poorly by Obama:--------------------------------------------Related Posts:Israel Is The New HondurasObama Throws...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 24, 2010 5 Comments

I told you this was coming. Increasingly, those who think Israel is to blame for the lack of peace in the Middle East, and who view pushing Israel back to barely defensible borders as the answer, have been pushing hard the meme that Israel is...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 24, 2010 6 Comments

It always has been about control, not health care.--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook...

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

In my post yesterday regarding the health care mandate, I suggested that if the courts held that the health care mandate were constitutional, then the Congress would have the power to declare weekly Blue Light Mandates.Given the potentially sweeping Congressional power to impose mandates, I...

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