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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 November 09, 2009 2 Comments

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Sure as I was certain that Bush would be blamed for the Balloon Boy hoax, so too I've been waiting for someone to make the connection between the Iraq war resolution and the health care vote.To...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 09, 2009 5 Comments

What a great day, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. That symbol of tyranny and oppression fell after decades of U.S. and West European refusal to give in to what at the time was proclaimed by the left to be the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 09, 2009 7 Comments

It is not a good thing to jump to conclusions when there is a shooting, at least on the issue of whether the shooting was a mere crime or terrorism. On Thursday, I cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that Nidal Hasan was motivated by...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 08, 2009 14 Comments

I'm not sure the fallout from the Stupak Amendment passing has been fully felt.Reproductive rights is the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. Democratic activists take as a given that Democratic politicians will protect a women's right and ability to choose. Last night the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 08, 2009 6 Comments

Bruni de la Motte explains in The Guardian why East Germans were better off before the Berlin Wall fell:On 9 November 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down I realised German unification would soon follow, which it did a year later. This meant the end...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 08, 2009 12 Comments

Joe Lieberman threw a healthy dose of water on the Pelosi-Reid-Obama health care fire this morning, reiterating that he will join in a Republican filibuster of any Senate health care bill which contains a public option. This is at least the second time in recent...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 08, 2009 1 Comment

Great line from Michael Steele while going at it with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (who also is Chair of the Democratic National Committee) on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" a few minutes ago.After Kaine crowed snidely about how Democrats have delivered on their promises...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 08, 2009 5 Comments

The NY Times is naming names of House Democrats Who Voted Against the Health Care Bill.It's all public record, so it's not "outing." But it is interesting that The Times feels the need to go into such detail to highlight the Democratic heretics. The Times...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 07, 2009 23 Comments

First impressions and reactions can be dangerous, but here goes:Passing the monstrous health care bill by just 5 votes in the House is a pyrrhic victory. Yes, it is a victory tonight for Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, but at an enormous political price.There will...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 07, 2009 5 Comments

This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:Complaining about the fact that even MSNBC could not spin Democratic losses in Virginia and New Jersey as a victory for Obama in last Tuesday's election, Digby at Hullabaloo...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 07, 2009 6 Comments

Barack Obama held another off-the-record 2-hour lunch with bloggers and columnists, Sister Todjah reports:No word yet on how the sour grapes tasted.This is becoming a regular occurrence, isn’t it? What’s happening with this WH? Are they so concerned now about MSM journalists like Jake Tapper...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 07, 2009 4 Comments

As Obama heads to Capitol Hill today to round-up some reluctant Blue Dog Democratic votes to ruin our health care system, raise taxes, and get the IRS involved in our lives even further, I was wondering if Obama could answer this unimportant question:How's that Iran...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 07, 2009 1 Comment

The attempts by Nancy Pelosi to cajole and/or threaten House Democrats into voting for the House health care restructuring bill has a surreal quality about it.Pelosi reminds me of a suicidal jumper on a ledge, with Republicans trying to talk Pelosi down since if she...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 06, 2009 2 Comments

It is not good for any President when bloody World War II analogies are all that supportive columnists and bloggers can muster in defense of your inability to get things done:Paul Krugman: Obama as Anzio. "Allied forces landed far behind enemy lines, catching their opponents...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 06, 2009 8 Comments

Joe Klein, sometimes hero, sometimes villain to just about everyone, wrote a lengthy article about all the problems Hillary Clinton is having in just about every part of the world with just about everyone over just about every foreign policy issue.But one sentence in the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 06, 2009 4 Comments

Don't have much time this morning to comment further, but note the irony that today the jobless rate hit a 25-year high at 10.2%, and tomorrow night Democrats in the House of Representatives are planning to push through a health care restructuring bill that is...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 06, 2009 8 Comments

Paul Krugman has been a leader in the movement among NY Times columnists and left-wing bloggers to demean and isolate the conservative movement by claiming that harsh criticisms of Barack Obama's policies not only are racist, but also incite right-wing violence.In the aftermath of the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 05, 2009 11 Comments

After the Bill Sparkman incident, in which the left-wing blogosphere immediately blamed tea party attendees and conservatives for Sparkman's (as yet unsolved) death, even this shocked me. Digby at Hullabaloo:I have no idea what happened at Ft Hood. They've confirmed that the perpetrators were military....

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