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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 October 20, 2009 1 Comment

The NY Times wants John Corzine, who never met an election he couldn't buy, to defeat Chris Christie in the NJ Governor's race. So the Times is back to its old (never really changed) self, engaging in a hatchet job masquerading as news close to...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 19, 2009 5 Comments

When everyone was talking about the Baucus Bill (the Senate Finance Committee proposal), there was no actual Baucus Bill (something I quietly pointed out). Now there is a real Baucus Bill, and it is a whopping 1502 pages. (h/t The Note)The actual Bill was released...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 19, 2009 29 Comments

Who would associate with the likes of the two South Carolina Republican county committee leaders (yes, county leaders) who wrote to praise Sen. Jim DeMint:There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 19, 2009 5 Comments

The Obama administration has put its hopes of stopping the Iranian nuclear weapons program on negotiations with Iran. At best, Iran has been an unwilling participant, seeking to buy time.I suspect Iran's attitude is about to change for the worse. A suicide bombing took the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 18, 2009 8 Comments

Over a month ago, I was optimistic that President Obama would act decisively on Afghanistan. With each passing week, it grows more clear that I was wrong.White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel signalled today that no decision will be made any time soon on...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 18, 2009 2 Comments

On Saturday morning, Barack Obama gave a rip-roarin' speech lashing out at the insurance industry.Obama finally found his mark, a villain he could love to hate. After months of corporate lobbyist wheeler-dealering, in which Obama's minions squeezed advertising dollars out of Big Pharma and others,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 17, 2009 2 Comments

I'm starting a new theme, the Saturday Night Card Game, to highlight the use of the race card as a political tool. Those on the left, lacking meritorious arguments, increasingly turn to false accusations of racism as a way of ending an argument they are...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 17, 2009 5 Comments

On January 31, 2009, I wrote that Turkey Looking Like The Next Iran: My prediction: Turkey is the next Iran, unless Obama stops blaming the U.S. for Islamist aggression and gives support to Turkey's secular institutions, including the Turkish army. Jimmy Carter tried the blame...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 17, 2009 4 Comments

The Stimulus Plan is the key to Barack Obama's claim that he has helped create and save jobs. But it is all a word game, as indicated by this report released by the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (the state's official name), stating...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 17, 2009 11 Comments

Barack Obama is on another "it's all Bush's fault" tear again. This time, using the tired campaign theme of cleaning up Bush's mess:Another way of putting it is when, you know, I'm busy and Nancy busy with our mop cleaning up somebody else’s mess –-...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 16, 2009 10 Comments

I never really understood Technorati. That may sound foolish, but when everyone would write about how essential it was to be properly linked or whatever to Technorati, how many people use Technorati to find blogs, etc., I really didn't follow the advice. I tried using...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 16, 2009 2 Comments

Politico has an article today on a secret arrangement struck last April among corporate lobbyists, the Obama administration, and Senator Max Baucus, exchanging favorable treatment for corporate interests for advertising dollars in support of Democratic health care reform:At a meeting last April with corporate lobbyists,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 15, 2009 16 Comments

You knew this had to happen. A popular left-wing blog, Jack and Jill Politics, has a photo of Rush Limbaugh as Hitler with blood dripping from his mouth, and "KKK" lettering."The Real Face of the RepubliKKKan Party"The genius posting this garbage was the author of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 15, 2009 1 Comment

Ta-Nehisi Coates is not one of the flame throwers on the left. While I don't agree with him on many policy issues, I have found him to be one of the more reasonable left-wing bloggers. But even Coates got caught up in the fabrications spread...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 15, 2009 12 Comments

Driving political rivals from office or appointed positions has a long tradition. Indeed, that is what politics is all about.Taking that fight into the private realm, whether someone's private employment or private associations, however, is a tactic we are seeing with increasing frequency from the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 14, 2009 12 Comments

The new topic of the week is the ugly campaign by CNN's Rick Sanchez, the head of the NFL players union, a variety of loony left-wing blogs, Al Sharpton, and the George Soros crowd, to prevent Rush Limbaugh from being part of a group purchasing...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 13, 2009 4 Comments

The TaxProf has come out with his quarterly rankings of blogs run by law professors based on annual traffic (so it's an annual ranking updated quarterly), and I'm eligible for the first time since this blog is just 1 year old. I'm pleased to debut...

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