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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.

Every now and then, like the proverbial broken clock, Frank Rich at the NY Times gets something mostly right. His column, The Rabbit Ragu Democrats, gets it mostly right and does a good job exposing the reality that lobbyists for corporate interests are running just...

John Kass, the brilliant columnist for the Chicago Tribune, explains why Chicago did not get the Olympics. He tells the story of a t-shirt he saw. It says Chicago 1016 2016 on the front, and Terre Haute 2020 on the back.To those of us not...

Until I started reading stories about Barack Obama's failure in Copenhagen, I didn't realize just how pathetic were the arguments used in support of Chicago as the 2016 Summer Olympic venue. In short, Obama and Chicago played the diversity card, but got out-diversified, and in...

I wish this headline in the NY Times was a joke, but it is not: U.S. Wonders if Iran Is Playing for Time or Is Serious on Deal This is a "news analysis" piece, so the Times will be all over the nuance angle: But...

Think Progress, the Democratic media-watch and policy group, always tries to blame conservatives for everything, including now the loss of the Olympics for Chicago: Mission Accomplished For Conservatives Who Rooted Against America.I doubt that the Olympic committee listened to any conservative U.S. voices. And talking...

Boss abuses his position of power to sleep with multiple staff members. One of the staff members, or someone else with knowledge, seeks to extort boss. The boss is a creep who should be shamed for using his power to obtain sex -- am I...

Had anyone outside of 8th Congressional District in Florida heard of Alan Grayson prior to Grayson's rant that Republicans want people to "die quickly"? Using the standard of causation employed by Nancy Pelosi, Patrick Kennedy, the nutroots, and other Democrats, Grayson is inciting violence against Republicans....

Consumer Reports, published by Consumers Union, is a valuable tool when trying to figure out which is the best washing machine, most reliable automobile, or most powerful drill. By staying out of politics, and not seeming to have a dog in any fight other than...

It's hard to know if the situation in Honduras is as dire as reports indicate. Apparently the Obama administration is on the verge of winning in Honduras by forcing the constitutional authorities -- the legislature, the courts, the interim government -- to allow back into...

Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) made news this week by joining the chorus of fear-mongering Democrats who suggest that those opposing Democratic health care restructuring proposals are prone to violence. As reported The Providence Journal:“My family’s seen it up close too much with assassinations and violence in...

Today is "military dictatorship day" (per Ed Morrissey) in which there is speculation from all sides about whether Obama would be removed in a coup or assume dictatorial powers.Crazy, huh? The left-wing blogosphere, in particular, is in a tizzy about this threat to the Republic.Well...

I thought we weren't allowed to talk this way when dealing with foreigners: "It's a battle -- we're going to win -- take no prisoners," the first lady said with a smile at a roundtable discussion with reporters in the White House State Dining Room.I...

Sometime early yesterday morning, I received my one millionth visit. Eleven months and two weeks after my first post on October 12, 2008.I hope the first million is the hardest. It has been mostly fun, but not easy.When I started this blog, I really didn't...

My Congressman, Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), knows a lot about the importance of the privacy of medical records, having spent most of his adult life in and out of drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Yet Patrick is a hard line Democrat when it comes to government control...

I haven't paid much attention to the upcoming 2010 Census, until the recent death of part-time Census worker Bill Sparkman, whose death under unclear circumstances is being shamelessly exploited by left-wing blogs.I went to the Census website, and took a look at the questions which...

Barack Obama often refers to Franklin D. Roosevelt in his speeches. But Roosevelt was the un-Obama when it came to war policy.Roosevelt took this country to all-out war with Japan, even though Japan only had attacked us once at Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt did not limit...

We do not know how or why Bill Sparkman -- a part time Census worker -- was killed in Kentucky. Let me repeat this, since this is the internet and lower case lettering does not carry any meaning: WE DO NOT KNOW HOW OR WHY...

This story has not received enough play, and has been lost in the shuffle of Obama's UN and G-20 appearances.The Senate Joint Committee on Taxation is considering the tax aspects of proposed Democratic health care bills. Republican Senator John Ensign has revealed that the bill...